Dig this. Dig I must.

[feraltomatoes]

I would at least get it on video. It may be worth 10,000 dollars from Americas funniest videos. Cause somethings gonna bust and it might not be dirt clods.(thinking teeth, foot, arms, wrists or back and my bet is on teeth.) and its too bad cause I enjoy your posts

[dcarch]

Another safety feature:
The cotter pin that connects the auger to the shaft is soft copper. If the bit hits any root of large rock it will break loose first.

dcarch

[Worth1]

I’m not worried about you getting hurt with that little motor, what kind of soil do you have?

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I’m not worried about you getting hurt with that little motor, what kind of soil do you have?

Basically, below 18" is just compacted yellowish sandy mud which has no organic matter in it at all. I don't think it can hold any water or nutrients. The top is in good shape after several years of mixing compost and kitchen scraps.

dcarch

[Rena]

Dcarch, I admire your do it yourself figure it out attitude. Very cool!!! (the tomato pollinator was very funny) but usable!!!

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by IMISSCOLO

Dcarch, I admire your do it yourself figure it out attitude. Very cool!!! (the tomato pollinator was very funny) but usable!!!

Thanks.

The electric pollinator is still working very nicely. I have been using it all winter for all my indoor tomatoes. Interesting that the micro motor uses very little power, It still has the original AA battery.

dcarch

[landarc]

DC,
Another word of caution, way back when, I once worked for a living. We regularly used power augers for digging holes for posts and plants. Yes, the handles can give you extra leverage, but, let that auger hook up on a rock and the leverage goes the opposite way as well. I had plenty of bruised ribs back in those days. Go slow, let the auger work, don't push down and do not use your body to brace the handle, if you need that much force, something is wrong down deep.

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by landarc

DC,
Another word of caution, --------------.

First of all, I am very thankful to all of you with safety concerns.
It is my fault for not stressing the importance of safety in working with machinery. I think this is becasue I have quite a bit of experience in working with all sorts of tools, and I have taken for granted that everyone would know to be careful.

Bob, I have a long heavy steel pointed bar which I use to go deep down to test if there is any obstructions first before I dig, I also use a metal detector to make sure if there is any underground utilities.

dcarch

[bcday]

I have a long heavy steel pointed bar which I use to go deep down to test if there is any obstructions first before I dig, I also use a metal detector to make sure if there is any underground utilities.

That wouldn't do you a bit of good around here. The natural gas lines here are plastic.

[landarc]

DC, i have a sense that you are familiar with equipment, but a warning unsaid is worthless after someone in hurt. Actually, I would rather hit the plastic pipe with a digging bar than with an auger. I once saw a guy roll up a bunch of pvc conduit onto an auger. Set our job back a couple of weeks.

I hate that plastic gas line, it cuts so easily and is hard to find in the ground with anything but a tractor. I had a job where the operator cut through a 6" high pressure gas line. Had to evacuate a 6 block radius, including an elementary school and a nursing home. Yup, good times.

[dice]

One other thing: looking at that last picture
of the till-auger, shouldn't the auger bit
be on the other side, based on which way
the tiller is going to rotate if the bit hangs
up in the soil? (Look at where the
fuel tank and engine are if the tiller
frame starts to spin. If you have a
brace sunk into the soil beside it,
you don't want a spinning tiller to
mash the engine and fuel tank into
the brace.)

Edit: If the auger bit is on the other side,
the only way to rotate it so that it digs
into the soil is to run the driveshaft in
reverse (does it even have a reverse?),
and the engine and fuel tank would still
be "on top" or "in front" if the bit
hangs and starts to rotate the
tiller body.

If you can possibly bring yourself to do
without several feet of tomato bed
each year, you could plant an alfalfa
crop there that grows over the summer,
and a winter cover crop in September.
The alfalfa will root down deep into your
subsoil and leave organic matter behind
when the alfalfa dies, and worms will pull
some of the alfalfa top growth down in
the fall and some of the mowed cover crop
down the next spring and summer.

Then the next year move the fallow section
down the bed and do the same thing for
another part of it.

(I know this is asking a lot, leaving a space
that could have a tomato plant in it empty
for a summer. Maybe you could grow some
each year in containers on top of small stands
that allow the alfalfa to grow underneath them,
until you have rotated around through the whole
tomato bed.)

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by dice

One other thing: looking at that last picture
of the till-auger, shouldn't the auger bit
be on the other side, based on which way
the tiller is going to rotate if the bit hangs
up in the soil? -------
If you can possibly bring yourself to do
without several feet of tomato bed
each year, you could plant an alfalfa
crop --------------

I think the rotation of the auger bit is correct to dig into the earth. If the auger hits obstruction, the clutch will free-wheel before it does anything crazy.

No. unfortunately I don't have the space to grow a cover crop. I wish I did.

BTW, the title for this thread "Dig I must" is a take-off of the NY utility company Con Edison's slogan. They are constantly digging up the streets here. I suppose no one from other areas will know this slogan.

dcarch

[garnetmoth]

no space for a cover crop? poppycock!

I do admit weve got a nice mild winter for the most part here, but get some kale, mustard greens, or rye seeds and SOW HEAVILY! a big sack of annual rye at sprawl*mart is like $3-4

Were moving beds so we have some bare soil now, but weve started growing something all winter (may die in your climate, but will at least get a few inches if planted after summer clean up)

[dice]

I think the rotation of the auger bit is correct to dig into the earth. If the auger hits obstruction, the clutch will free-wheel before it does anything crazy.

So I was completely wrong (backwards) with
this geometry of auger bit and tiller body? Oh well.

It simply would have meant staking the other side
and using a chain or old seat belt for a restraint
if you wanted to brace the thing against unwanted
rotation of the tiller body (for just the second or so
it takes you to let go of the throttle).

If you think about it, the alfalfa rotation is simply
scaling down what farmers do when they leave
a field fallow for a season to the scale of a
backyard garden: "grow alfalfa in it, feed the
worms and other beneficial soil organisms,
replenish organic matter in the soil, and
break up compacted soil at the bottom
of the root zone." If one adds the "containers
on stands above the alfalfa" strategy (could be
burlap sacks full of horse manure that one simply
pushes off the stands and adds to the mulch at
the end of the season), that is going them one
better by using the available sun exposure of that
"fallow" section, something that farmers normally
write off as just part of the cost of leaving a field
fallow for a season.

If I were doing that and had a shallow depth of
fertile soil above relatively infertile subsoil (the
usual situation in the Pacific Northwest, where
soil typically starts out with a few inches of
humus above a foot or less of topsoil above
heavy clay with varying amounts of sand and
gravel in it), I would loop back to the first
section again after rotating through the whole
garden and repeat the alfalfa soil improvement
process for as long as I gardened there.

One can grow a winter cover crop over a whole
garden bed, not only the "fallow" section. Winter
cover crops are planted at various times depending
on climate, later in warmer areas with longer growing
seasons, earlier in colder areas. I would guess
middle-of-August to first-week-of-September for
NY, for example. That allows it put on some growth
before the snows come in earnest, and yet that
is late enough to not pose much competition for
crops that have not yet been harvested.

Some people till cover crop top growth into their
beds in spring, others simply mow/weed-eat it
and leave it there for mulch. (What the worms
don't eat becomes humus.)

Alfalfa really roots deep, well beyond the deepest
rooting tomato plants. I don't know how deep
winter cover crops like winter rye, hairy vetch,
etc send down roots.

(Clover caveat: white clover is alleged to be a heavy
competitor for water in the summer, so I'd avoid that
one in a vegetable garden, especially where it
might winter over. I would stick to winter annual
or perennial cover crops that go completely
dormant in summer, even in cool, rainy summers.)

HTH,

[TomatoDon]

In my opinion, and experience, a planting hole over 24" deep is just not worth it. However, I shared your enthusiasm for depth once. I brought a tractor in, put on an big auger, and bored down. Only problem is I hit a deep water line the first try and busted the deep sewer line the next hole. Every time I over-do it something messes up.

Before I'd do all that elaborate stuff, I'd just get a discarded 15-30 gallon nursery container, stick it in the ground, and fill it with nothing but good compost or the stuff you can buy such as peat, potting soil, top soil, etc. It's really very simple if you let it be. At least I keep telling myself that. :wink: Next time you pull up a tomato plant at the end of the season you will be surprised at how small the root ball really is.

Good luck, but be careful with the heavy machinery!

Don