Got some fun new tools, now what are they and how do i use them properly??

[8BitFarm]

Hi folks! Hope everyone is having a lovely, productive spring!
So we went to and auction, and came home with three new pieces of equipment, and being that I am a noob at farming, I thought I’d see if anyone has any insight about how best to use any or all of these items, or if we can use them at all.
The first is a Planet Jr. plow attachment, it looks like it should go behind a garden tractor or maybe a walking tractor? I can find very little info on how it was originally used, the appeal of it was that we have one haflinger sized gelding that is our source of forward motion right now, and the actual plow part is only about 8″, so it looked like he might have a fighting chance of pulling it through the soil. I will try to post pics of this and the other pieces as soon as I’ve figured out how to do it and had a moment to take the pics. Anycase, my thinking was to try to either attach it to a forecart, or maybe somehow stick handles to it and a place to hook a singletree, and see if we can make it be a walking plow. Does this sound reasonable, or am I p*ssing up a rope here?
The second and third implements are both from Nickel Mine Welding Shop in Paradise PA, one is a small red looks-like-a-cultivator, but is set up without spaces, so is really more of a chisel plow, or a sort of 1/2 row cultivator? like you’d have to walk up one side and back down the other to cultivate with it… doesn’t seem very efficient, but does look light enough that our boy can pull it, but not sure if it’s really for light tillage or what… I guess a pic would really help here. Sorry. The other one is a green “big brother” to the red looks-like-a-cultivator, it’s the same sort of set-up, but it unambiguously screams chisel plow/tillage device, where the red one can’t make up its mind. It’s much heavier and has the (much larger) points all ranged out front to back, and they’re twice the size of the red one… after the little i’ve read, i’m not sure i don;t need maybe a small army of horses to pull the thing through the soil, but it looked so do-able the other day before I researched it…
Anyways, any thoughts on the matter? Any of these things sound familiar to anyone? Anybody have any notion about that planet jr thing, where it came from or how to use it? Do I dare try tilling with any of these things with one small beast? My main concern is not to hurt or discourage the horse, but I also don’t want to waste a lot of time using the tools improperly.
Thanks in advance, I’m really looking forward to any and all replies!

[grey]

Do the 2nd and 3rd implements have handles? Or wheels? Or neither?

Making a walking plow is tricky business. Bolting something on to a forecart is easier to kludge up but still has a number of obstacles to overcome. I think probably the most difficult one would be fabricating a way of setting your share into the ground at the beginning of your plot, then raising it at the end. I suppose you could just plow “in the round”.

[8BitFarm]

Thanks for getting back to me, Grey! The 2nd and 3rd implements have handles, the 2nd one has about an 12″ diameter wheel, the 3rd one has about a 6″ diameter wheel, a bit wider than the 2nd implement’s wheel, just like I’ve seen on other walking plows.
As far as the plow, I didn’t even think about how I would set the share… like I said, total newbie :0)

[grey]

If it’s what I’m picturing… has one wheel AND some little spike-chisel things AND handles, then I don’t believe it is meant to be horsedrawn – it’s solely people-powered.

[grey]

No, wait, I do remember now that I’ve seen some cultivators with a wee wheel at the front that acts as a depth limiter to keep the cultivator from burying itself. That sounds like the item with the 6″ wheel. But the 12″ wheel…. that’s bigger than any wheel I’ve seen on a horse-drawn cultivator.

[mitchmaine]

“sounds like” your second cultivator (12″wheel) could be a wheel hoe, or a hand cultivator, meant to be used by hand close in by the plants. you move it like a wheelbarrow and work the tines in and around the plants. just a guess…..can you post a photo?

[grey]

Search Google images for “wheel hoe” and see if that looks anything like one of the things you’ve got.

Most horse-drawn walking cultivators are designed to be drawn by one horse and go down between two rows of crop, rather than straddling a row. That type of cultivator doesn’t typically have a “wheel”, per se, but more of a depth gauge that looks like a small wheel. It can be adjusted to cause the cultivator to be more aggressive or less aggressive.

When you get two horses in front of a cultivator, you can put one horse on either side of your row and cultivate to either side of the row of crop in a single pass. Cultivators that can straddle a row of crop would have two wheels to give the equipment enough clearance to pass over the crop and would also have a seat for the farmer to be aboard. Otherwise, the teamster is walking just to one side or the other of the row of crop and it’s harder to see what you’re doing and micro-manage your team if they need it.

I have seen cultivators that put a team up front and is meant to cultivate between wide-spaced row crops that sprawl a great deal once they reach maturity – melons, for example. In that instance the row of crop is not straddled. The team passes as a unit between two rows of crop and leaves a wide swath of cultivated ground behind.

[grey]

Hah, you beat me to it Mitch.

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