01/14/2019
The Buddingh Inrow Weeder
The original concept was developed back in the 50’s as the Buddingh Inrow Weeder Model H. It was a new concept designed to eliminate hand w**ding of produce and nursery stock. This successful invention was patented in the late 50’s. Over the years the suspension was redesigned to swing out away from the plant row and the cone heads themselves were made stronger and heavier. As time went on it became known as the finger w**der. Our current production model known as the Model C Finger Weeder, has both a heavier frame and the stronger cone heads.
Here’s how it works. The drive pins that pick-up ground speed are set in a smaller diameter than the rubber finger tips. In this way you pick up an acceleration or w**ding action. Basically, you have a 1 to 1.625 ratio of acceleration. This produces the action up close and around the crop, the drive pins themselves cultivate out away from the plant and you end up with about 8 to 10 inches on each side of the row w**ded. The “mulching cone” that trails the pair of rubber finger cones places the soil back around the plants and rakes the surface removing many of the small hair w**ds from the soil as well. One grower recently told us he grows Garlic which he hasn’t w**ded by hand at all since he purchased his Buddingh Model C w**der, 4 or 5 years ago.
Over the years several other manufactures have copied and produced the cone head itself, a good testimony to Dad’s design from our point of view. However, Dad and Case Buddingh determined that because of the gentle action of the rubber fingers it was actually more practical to run the trailing pair of cones, rather than a single pass setup. The usual setup is to run the first pair with about a 1 ½ inch gap and lap the second pair slightly. This will produce a virtually w**d free w**ding process, if the conditions are right. You always have exceptions depending on the type of w**ds and the ground moisture conditions. But our simple claim is we are not aware of a machine that does a more thorough job. Currently no one else offers a swinging suspension arm on each cone to walk over rocks and such. This was developed over the years by trial and error and we consider it an essential part of the design.
There are two inherent draw backs to the design that you may have to work around in today’s modern produce field. The machine requires at least a 20’’ row spacing for a single row machine and 34” if you intend to run two machines at a time. If the ground is too wet or has too much clay in it, the drive pins tend to load up. The reason is, our drive pins run at a flatter angle to the ground, so they cultivate a wider area. It’s a trade off in the design, you can go for the width of cultivation or the more vertical self-cleaning angle.
