Archive through May 25, 2011

[wshytle]

Mike-

One pass ought to do it for most gardening. I don't care to change implements so I have acquired three cultivators over the past couple of years. One is set up for hilling, another for running the furrow, and one for cultivating between rows later in the season. I'm now trying to dedicate a tractor to each implement so all I have to do is jump off one and onto another. Unless you are trying for massive hills I see no reason one pass per row wouldn't work. Also, IMHO, the higher the hill the faster it will dry so that's another reason. I know people that don't hill rows at all for that reason. They just plant at ground level. Things like potatoes need the hilling for proper growth but most veggies will do fine in a small hill.

 

[hydroharry]

Wayne - don't be giving all the secrets away. You have to be careful when Wiggling - the terminals between the switches and plugs can pop off. Dave R might be on to something. I don't recall hearing of anyone using electrical grease but makes sense - seems it would stop the corrossion and allow the connection to work. JB is probably gonna be chasing and wiggling wires until he cleans off the terminals and maybe even puts some electrical grease in them.

And as far as your carb and the knat hair, let us know how it works out. I think you're chasing a ghost, but a good soaking along with a needle and seat kit may do the trick. Make sure you have a look at the float "level" as well. And once you're all done, plug your ears a little and set the idle "just a tad" bit higher (a tad is just slightly bigger than a knat hair).

JB - your problem may well return and you may have to wiggle the PTO switch or wire plug. You might want to actually disconnect the plug from the switch and push the plug back on a few times. The terminals do tend to corrode over time. Don't know about the grease Dave mentioned but could be worth a try.

Hydro Harry
Old Cubs Never Die
(and they run good without shorts)

 

[mpatterson]

Biggest thing I wanted to hill Wayne was my onions and my carrots. I am thinking my onions are TOO LOW and they tend to rot away. Have one heck of a time with them keeping after pulling them and drying them out. Sometimes the odd one will rot in the ground. So I am affraid of it being the cause - ground too low? Just trying to decide if I go ahead and buy these or just put a wider sweep on the shank and throw it up that way for now? Biggest thing is I need to get my garden DRY! OMG!

 

[wshytle]

Harry-

That wiggling is necessary because the problem isn't the wiring or connections, it's internal. As you know, there's a stop for the throw handle and the switch itself is sensitive inside. Like I said, I've seen it happen on several different occasions. Apparently the switches are not defective but rather have a lot going on inside because they control several things for safety reasons.

I had to go get the truck inspected so the state could continue making money and now it's threatening rain so I haven't taken the carb off to soak yet. Thanks for mentioning the float because I hadn't thought of that yet.

 

[wshytle]

Mike-

I don't know a whole lot about gardening down here in the south and darn sure don't know what it's like up there in the "north country". Low areas that hold water do require extra attention to keep the plants healthy. You might try hilling for the onions and carrots then mulching to retain some moisture for the dryer months (if you have dry months up there). I imagine your spring has just started and down here it has been in the 90s for a few days now. It gets very dry at times here so moisture is welcomed by most.

 

[jbevans]

Thanks Harry and Wayne. I am done wiggling for today.

I wiggled a Gnat hair out of the PTO switch.

 

[hydroharry]

JB and Wayne - If'n JB ain't doing no more wiggling today, and Wayne's in his hammock wait'n for the rain, just what the heck are you guys gonna do?

JB - could you take a trip over the Mountain to Bald Eagle and catch a few of those PA Gnats, then send one down south of the Mason Dixon to Wayne. It might just attract Wayne's Knat right out of his carb. If you can't make it to Bald Eagle try that state park over by Dubois.

Wayne - I wasn't aware of the PTO switch being that sensitive. Must be something that come up during the 10 years I dropped out of site on here. Sure glad I'm back.

Hydro Harry
Old Cubs Never Die (except when the gol'dern GKnats get in the way)

 

[bhazelbrook]

Thanks all for the greetings...

Harry--truth be told I actually found the 1650 about 4 miles on the other side of the WA/ID state line, so technically you don't have to feel bad about missing the only one in WA. I assume you're over in the Puget-tropolis...I'm about 20 miles NNE of Ritzville...nearest neighbors are 4 miles away. That's a good thing because my language is getting creative while I work on this 50A rotary deck (BFH treatment, of course).

 

[aschumacher]

Bob, another welcome. I suspect 'creative language' and a BFH have fixed more than 'just a few' things around here !

 

[jchamberlin]

If anyone's interested, I've given all my terminals the dielectric grease treatment. Anything to stop the corrosion! The only downside I'm seeing is that the grease seems to attract dirt.

The reason for the grease:

The greased terminal:

The back of the greased Terminal, Twenty hours in:

You can also see the grease attracting dirt on the previous photo showing the bare, greased, terminal.