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  • From: Paul Bucciaglia <pbucciaglia AT yahoo.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Spaders, stone pickers
  • Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 05:16:37 -0700 (PDT)

Hi David and spader folk,
 
There is a stone picker used in the latest Fastline mag.  they are online at www.fastline.com.  I think it was like 4 grand, which sounds reasonable to me seeing as you could pick your fields clean and then sell the thing in a couple years.
 
re spaders:  I just got a used 20 year old imants this year.  It is the light duty version and well used.  (12 grand for a new spaders seemed kind of excessive.)  We put a cheap slip clutch on it sold by Agri supply--this was essential as every time it hit a stone I lost a spade.  Works great now but spades and harrow tines need replaced--winter project.  I have nearly stone free, very sandy soil.  I find it makes an awesome seedbed on ground with no cover crop, or winter killed cover crop.  I grow a lot of rye/vetch and it worked poorly on that--nearly bounced us off the tractor.  Maybe the heavy duty version would be ok with it.  We plow and disk vetch after a couple mowings and had great luck with the fertility and an ok seed bed to boot.  I don't generally dirrect seed  much into  rye/vetch.  While the Imants is perhaps not a true spader, it is much gentler and slower on the soil than a roto tiller, is a much simpler machine to repair than Celli, and makes a  great seedbed for direct seeding.  With my sandy soil I find the limitiing factor is how much OM you can get in the soil and how often you can water rather than tillage system.
 
I have friends who have a Celli.  From what I have seen it does a poor job of incorporateing cover crops.  They have  lots of residue when they till in their covers, they grow a lot of rye.  Looks to me like it would need a bed maker or something to make final seedbed for direct seeding.  They mostly transplant.  THey have lots of rocks and the thing has not broken in many years so I would guess the Celli would be a better bet for rocky soil.  I don't like the seed bed it makes, it would be horrible for my ancient Planet Junior seeders, maybe ok for the newer double disk seeeders.
 
Paul

------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 10:00:40 -0400
From: "David Inglis"
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] imants vs. crankshaft spader
To: "'Market Farming'"
Message-ID: <001801c598fc$ea98f340$2d01a8c0@Dave>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

> We have a Celli crankshaft spader and have friends who have an Imants
> > rotary Spader.
> Has anybody used either of these (or anything similar) in rocky soil?
> If so, how well did it work? And how well did it hold up?
>
> -- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly

Depends what you mean by rocky. We have plenty of stones and a fair
amount of rocks the size of softballs. The Celli does a good job of
putting the stones below the surface. If you install an extra screen
behind the spades with a two inch spacing you could put most stones at
the bottom of the working depth and cover them with what loose soil you
have. My Celli is 50" and light enough that if a spade lands directly on
a rock the whole machine will lift out. This is nerve racking but has
yet to do any serious damage to the machine.

This question reminds me of the need for a one bed stone picker that
doesn't cost the earth. Has anyone seen or used something that works on
a bed by bed basis?
David A. Inglis
Mahaiwe Harvest C.S.A.

Ps can anyone tell me how to change my subscription e mail address
without canceling the whole market farming subscription and then
signing up again with the new one? Thanks



Paul Bucciaglia
Fort Hill Farm
Organic Vegetables, Herbs, and Flowers
18 Fort Hill Rd.
New Milford CT 06776
(860) 350-3158
www.forthillfarm.com

  • Re: [Market-farming] Spaders, stone pickers, Paul Bucciaglia, 08/07/2005

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