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He Built His Own Pumpkin Planter
Dennis Jenkins likes to grow pumpkins for fun, food plots, and to give away. But planting an acre can be a bit of work. So, he was interested when he saw a couple of ads for automatic and manual planters. However, the $350 cost for the manual version seemed steep.
“I figured I could come up with something,” Jenkins says. “So, I took a section out of a Dakon cultivator. I added a platform with a seat and made a funnel with PVC and black plastic tubing.”
The cultivator’s single S-tine digs the furrow, and Jenkins drops seeds every 2 or 3 ft. down the tube. A disc from an old grain drill runs behind it to cover the seed with soil, followed by a cultivator wheel to pack it.
Jenkins, who worked in a steel shop, had square tubing and most everything he needed to build the planter, which mounts on his tractor’s 3-point hitch. Thanks to a front wheel and the mount, the planter is stable and balanced.
“It really speeds planting up. It takes about 1 1/2 hrs. to plant an acre of pumpkins with rows 4 ft. apart,” Jenkins says. This year, he added a second seat for planters to keep each other company.
He says it also works well for squash and other seeds, such as sweet corn and beans, which don’t require precision planting.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dennis Jenkins, 2509 2nd St., Cumberland, Wis. 54829 (ph 715-671-8192; Dennisjenkins73@icloud.com).


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2024 - Volume #48, Issue #4