Kress Cultivating Tools

[dominiquer60]

I just got back from the New England Vegetable and Fruit Conference. The single most exciting thing that I discovered is this company, K.U.L.T. or Kress for short, http://www.kress-landtechnik.de/wEnglisch/produkte/gemuesebau/hacktechnik/hacktechnik.shtml?navid=6.

They manufacture and design cultivating systems that allow for multiple actions in the same pass. I am particularly interested in incorporating the finger weeder and sweep combs into my weapons of mass weed destruction program. They seem to be willing to work with all sizes of farms, here is a video of finger weeders on a rototiller unit, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYMdfIebQg0. Kress also has a warehouse in NY so we can buy directly from them without importing ourselves. They have an English version of their website and many of their youtube videos have English as well.

I can see these concepts being incorporated on an Annie’s All-in-One, Pioneer Homesteader, straddle row cultivator, etc. The system is for a German single square tool bar unlike the common double diamond system, but with some fabrication and knowledge of how the different tools work they should adapt to a draft animal system nicely. Though they make crazy complicated equipment like this robovator, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijAfvd6S6-A, they a humble enough to work with the walk-behind tractor crowd, lots of potential.

Whether someone here develops a square tool bar system or adapts the tools for use with their own equipment, this could certainly advance draft animal power if we put it to use. 🙂

[Jelmer]

Kress just started in the US.

There have been people succesfull with the fingerweeders in France and Germany.
The linke here shows examples how to incorporate fingerweeders on draft animal machinery. Horse power with Kress

The picture is also from Germany.

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[Jelmer]

Kress just started in the US.

There have been people succesfull with the fingerweeders and draft animal power in France and Germany.
The linke here shows examples how to incorporate fingerweeders on draft animal machinery. Its not that difficult to do
Horse power with Kress

The picture is also from Germany.

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[Jelmer]

That´s unfortunate, the message somehow doesn´t get modified when I edit it… nor can I delete it.
The link doesn´t work correct neither.

For the correct images of fingerweeders click the link and then on “cultivators” on that website.
There´s a one horse cultivator with fingerweeders where you can click on to see more.

From what I´ve read and heard about fingerweeders:

Pro´s:
– Removes weeds in-row and partly takes the soil from the weeds root.
– Gives little crop damage because it approaches the crop from the sides (underneath its
leaves).
– Useable in many different crops.
– Many options: for each soil and each crop the optimal fingerweeder type can be chosen.

Cons:
– The weeds quickly get too big.
– Many options: this can also be a disadvantage to make the right choice.
– Breaking of fingers, which happens when they get older on heavy (hard) clay soil.
– On a hardend and dry soil it can be hard sometimes for the fingers to enter in the soil.

All by all it would mean that Kress becomes available for probably a better price. The fingerweeders have good results when used the right way.

[dominiquer60]

Thank you Jelmer, I able to click on the link. Sorry that the editing feature doesn’t seem to work as we would like it to.

I am hopeful that I can purchase a pair of these finger weeders to add to my cultivating options. Like you have stated, there are pros and cons to this, and most cultivating tools. It is all about choosing the right (or best fit at the moment) tool for the right job given the conditions of any given day. I feel like these will give me a better in-row cultivating tool than I currently have, and I like that they are available in a range of sizes and finger firmness. Each plastic color of this finger weeder indicates a particular firmness, so you can use a soft finger for delicate plants in light soil or a firmer finger on larger plants or harder soil. The finger weeders that I know from the states here have rubber coated metal fingers, and are really aggressive, so I like that these are gentler and vary in firmness of plastics.

The other tool that I would like to try out is the comb that follows a sweep. This link should show it in the upper right hand photo, http://www.kress-landtechnik.de/wEnglisch/produkte/gemuesebau/hacktechnik/hackwerkzeug/hackwerkzeuge_start.shtml?navid=31. The comb that I mention is blue with 6 tines and a weight above. The weight can be adjusted to make the comb more aggressive or less depending on the conditions and the comb is on a hinge so it can float over rocks and such.

Jelmer, I think that you had similar combs on your equipment in Barton. I regret not being able to make either of your cultivator sessions, please forgive me for my ignorance of what you have already covered. I am just excited to discover something new to me at a trade show targeted at tractor farmers that I can apply to a draft animal operation.

[Jelmer]

Hello Erika,

It´s great you´re mentioning the fingerweeders, its a cool tool to be excited about! It works to lessen hand labour mechanicly.
And I agree; it fits in very well with the sustainable and innovative future of draft animal powered agriculture.

Its exciting to hear you are thinking of purchasing fingerweeders. The firmness by color like you say makes it indeed easier to pick the right one.
The other types of fingers (rubber coated on metal) sound very agressive to me too.

I´m sorry you couldn´t make it to the cultivator sessions. The Fields Days were a wonderfull full weekend, I´m still digesting on it with joy.
I think its great you bring this subjecto the forum. Its not covered enough. There is a lot more to say for these “mechanical weeding tools”.

I can inform you on that (link with) sweep with combined hiller and harrow. Kress buys those from another company called “HAK”.
I like the 3 actions combined in one: hoeing (or scuffling), hilling & harrowing. It works shallow, efficient and light.

And the sweep with hiller can be supplemental to the fingerweeder. When for example the brassica gets too big, a fingerweeder could grab its leaves and damage it or pull it out of the soil. After the “fingerweeding stage” the sweep and hiller could come. That hiller is low and designed to go underneath the leaves of the brassicas. Pushing the soil underneath the leaves smoothly in-row. Without breaking the brassica´s leaves. In-row the small weeds get covered with soil and suffocate.
To make sure the soil is pushed all the way in-row, the “wing” of the hillers can be adjusted in width.

Have you heard of the “torsion weeder”?
That company HAK writes on their website that when a fingerweeder is used it gets up to 60% of the in-row weeds. Using a fingerweeder combined with a “torsion weeder”, up to 90% of the in-row weeds are “caught”. Leaving 10% to do by hand. They base this info is on field tests from the Europe.

Here´s a link to HAK´s website informing on the “torsion weeder”:
HAK mechanical weed control

If you are interested, I can inform on the price of the sweep with hiller and harrow.
I know “HAK” and “Steketee” (both Dutch companies) also offer fingerweeders, I can inform you those prices too.
I´m curious about Kress their prices for fingerweeders.

[dominiquer60]

Jelmer,

I found this video of torsion weeders in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7pKHnVoyiE. It seems to me that when they uncover them at the end, the torsion weeder is somewhat deep and looks to form a ridge when the loose soil is removed. Do find this to be the case?

I wonder if a torsion weeder is a possibility in our soil. We have many stones and even though it is classified as a sandy loam, the soil can harden and can become difficult to penetrate with cultivating equipment. I can picture it jumping up or over due to the stones and possibly causing more damage to the plants than I would like.

I also worry that if torsion weeder does make a bit of a ridge, that this would have a negative impact on conserving soil moisture. Like the Nordells I don’t have irrigation so if there is no rain in the forecast I may not want to use this tool.

I am not putting the torsion weeder down, I am just curious if it would be right for my soil conditions and water conversation methods.

Prices for any of these items would be nice. However I do not want to import such equipment, which is why Kress is inviting because they have a warehouse here in the States. I will let you know Kress prices are when I get them. Thanks for your input, I think that the use of mechanical cultivation is on the rise and it will be interesting to see how it progresses.

[Anthony]

I came across this video that goes through the various technologies, perhaps it is helpful.

[dominiquer60]

I have some information now that the holidays are over and Kress has decided to have a man on the ground in the States to help folks like us.

Welcome Michael Smith to the KULT/Kress company. Michael can be reached at michael.smith@kult-kress-us.de.

I will attempt to post a couple of price lists for finger weeders, sweeps, knives and the comb/row harrow. It appears that some changes have been made to the site and a few unintentional errors to the forum have been made. Nope I still can’t post attachments, I will try again once things are straightened out.

[Anthony]

Anyone using any of these tools with horses? Updates on availability and pricing?

[Crabapple Farm]

I got a pair of Garford finger weeders this summer from Willsie up in Canada. $650 for the pair. They will have a display at the NOFA summer conference in a couple weeks.
http://willsie.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_7&products_id=263
Like Kress, they have all rubber fingers. Unlike Kress/Kult, they don’t come in different hardnesses. My soil is pretty much all the same and I like to cultivate as much as I can without switching tools around, so one size fits all works for me.
I’ve used them with a cultivating tractor so far, not horses. We’re still working our pony up to real cultivation work, and once we get him up to speed, I’ll need to rig up a one pony toolbar.
They don’t do as much once the weeds get too big (current state of affairs here, with frequent thunderstorms preventing effective cultivation for the past three weeks), but I was really liking the job they did earlier in the season before 3″ of rain kept me out of the field for over a week… They can get in between larger crops well (set to overlap in established corn, beans, kale, onions, peppers, eggplant) or very close to more tender things (things just coming up or things like recently transplanted lettuce, which I set them with about a 2″ gap for) without killing things. The only time I was seeing crops killed was when a finger pushed a stone through the plant. With trash or larger weeds, they can bury or clog such that they take out the crop. But still less than regular sweeps.
The Garford style uses an adjustable Danish S-tine type shank, which matches my toolbar and matches I&J, Annie’s All-in-One, and a few other newer cultivators (though you might need a different clamp). For a McCormick or such, you would need to rig something up, but shouldn’t be too hard.
I would highly recommend.
-Tevis

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