Do-It-Yourself Drum Marker Helps Space Plants Accurately

Do-It-Yourself Drum Marker Helps Space Plants Accurately FARM HOME Food 25-1-7 If you garden in a big way, either for your own food or vegetables to sell, you know how important it is to space plants accurately. Marking spots to set out plants can be backbreaking work. But with a little time and trouble in the shop, you can make a marker that can either be pulled by hand or behind a small garden tractor. This rolling marker was devised by Bob Meyer, an agricultural engineer at the University of Wisconsin. Meyer used a section of 12 in. diameter PVC pipe. You'll want to cut the drum section as wide as the beds you're planting, or, if you're planting in rows, wide enough for several rows. The axle assembly on which the drum rotates is made of galvanized steel plumbing fittings. Meyer cut two 12-in. circles out of 3/4 in. plywood to fit in the ends of the drum and fastened them in with screws. In the center of each of these plywood ends, he inserted a 3/4 in. floor flange to make the hub for the pipe axle. He made a handle of 1 in. PVC pipe. Meyer made scoops for the marker using 4-in. sections of 2 in. diameter PVC pipe cut in half length-wise at a 45-degree angle. He fastened these to the drum in the appropriate spacing using 2 in. metal angle brackets. A 12 in. diameter drum has a circumference of about 3 ft. (37.69 in., actually). If you want to put plants about 1 ft. apart, you'll need to place three scoops for each row on the drum. If you need to put plants more than a foot apart, you may want to go with a larger drum. For example, a 16-in. pipe has a circumference of just over 50 in., so you could put 5 scoops around it for a 10 in. spacing. Or, putting 4 scoops evenly around it would give you a spacing of little more than 12 in. And 3 scoops placed evenly around a 16 in. drum would space plants at just a little more than 16 in. Another note on the axle for the drum marker is to make the 3/4 in. pipe axle long enough to extend through the drum and handle and far enough so weights can be mounted on both sides to make it heavy enough to cut into the soil. Complete plans are available from the Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits group on the Internet at http://bse.wisc.edu/hfhp. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bob Meyer, c/o Biological Systems Engineering, 460 Henry Mall, Madison, Wis. 53706 (ph 608 265-9451; E-mail: rhmeyer1@facstaff. wisc.edu).

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