Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - [Market-farming] Sweeps, knives, shovels

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Chris Corbin <corbincdc AT gmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Sweeps, knives, shovels
  • Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 15:14:47 -0600

Hi,
I am looking for information on the different intricacies of cultivating tools for weed control.  We currently do a lot of hand weeding and would like to try to do weeding with tractors.  We have an old farmall tractor with a belly mount cultivator and standard row crop sweeps( now rusty).  I am looking at buying some new sweeps.  We run a raised bed 3-2-1 mixed vegetable system with some plastic.  Our beds are spaced 4ft from side to side.  The rows are set up 15" in the center and 9" on the edge.  My plan is to use the belly mount cultivator in the rows and a rear cultivator for the wheels and the side of the bed with knives. 
 
Can any one point me in a direction where I can read about how these different implements function in the soil or your experience.  For instance how does a beet sweep compare to a standard row crop sweep  http://www.agrisupply.com/sweeps--row-crop/c/4500039/c2c/sc/. When should I use knifes as opposed to sweeps.  What size of a sweep do I buy if I want to cultivate 15" rows- throwing some dirt or alot of dirt?  Does the size matter or is it more of the pitch and depth?   This place has a lot of different kinds http://www.nicholstillagetools.com/products/
 
I could be making things too complex and maybe these thing just need to be experimented with not read in a book or a listserve, but I thought I would check before I start to purchase these implements.  I realize these things also change with the type of crop and growth stage, but some general guidance would be helpful. 
 
Thanks  



Chris Corbin
Onion Creek Farm



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page