OK. That answers one of my questions about yield. At 25 tons per acre, potatoes have to be one of the most productive crops to grow on an acre of land. Even corn silage produces fewer tons than that.
Being a city slicker, I am amazed at seeing and at you showing and explaining what all is involved in harvesting, transporting, storing, cleaning, and packing potatoes 🥔. Your videos are informative and fun to watch, Molly. I have the greatest respect for you and for Shane and for all of your crew.
To think all of those potatoes will get scooped out with a little bucket on a forklift is mind-blowing. Keep the dirty side down there driver, thanks for the video.
Nice to see comments increase as well as subscribers, not by accident, you are a good videographer as well as an excellent presenter. As others have said stay safe and have a prosperous harvest.
Thanks for the kind words, I’m excited the channel is growing too. I’m sure video quality will get better as I learn more :) we are staying safe! Scary stuff though.
I plan to! We bag a lot of potatoes over the winter, so I’ll be filming lots of projects to keep people hopefully entertained until more tractor work starts up again. I’m sure people don’t want to see bagging potatoes over and over again hahah.
Another great video, I love the "down and dirty" videos, how your farm activities actually run. I love when you attach your video camera in key places to see how the equipment really works. I'm impressed with Shane's mechanical skills, ie: converting the bean combine to "Cornzilla" and all his duties!! Maintenance must be a full-time endeavor . Best of luck with your potato harvest.
Hey thanks Dan, I think that is a side of farming a lot of people don’t think about, how much maintenance goes into equipment! Thank you for watching! Another video is scheduled for Saturday morning :)
@@BellsFarming Glad to hear everyone is good. It’s an awful situation up where you are and I’m sure that after a time and grief plays out that your community will come through this stronger then ever. There’s a heavy feeling around here as I’m a couple miles away from the national guard base in Saco that POS was stationed at and made threats against and is only a stone’s throw from the larger of our 2 elementary schools
Our harvest window was Oct. 1 thru the 15th , anytime past the 15th and your conditions could go south pretty quick . Nice spuds and awesome digging conditions . no sod . I dealt with a lot of sod over the years as we were cattle ranchers first , always trying to keep the cattle on pasture and then fight the sod rushing the potato growing ground .
@@BellsFarming Sod was my biggest challenge over the years . I sold the cow herd 8 years ago and leased the ranch. Happily retired spending my time between Yuma Az. and Washington .
And a good trick in soft dirt /sand is 3or4 th gear and some speed low gears put to much power to the ground, I learned the hard way in the construction pits in LA California, thanks BigAl California
Always enjoy your videos. I never realized Maine was a big potato growing state. Nice to hear you mentioning how the potatoes are loaded into the truck to prevent bruising. I saw a tomato harvester dropping tomatoes 10 or 12 feet into a truck. Made me cringe. I guess it doesn't matter too much if the plant is about to cook them up for canned tomato sauce or something.
Love to see this, I grew up just East of y’all in Belfast on my Grandfather’s Farm. After 26 years in the US Army, spending the majority of time in either jungle or desert, I can no longer tolerate the cold of winter in New England. I now live in SE Georgia, much more acceptable weather here!! Can only say You Down Easter’s rock!!!
@@BellsFarming I do not remember, that was in the 1950s, I do know that we ate most everything that we grew and Gramp would plant at least 2 acres of potatoes each year that we stored in one of our root cellars. We had 180 acres, about 60 was cleared and half that was pasture the rest we planted. Learned an awful lot about basic survival and living off the land. My Grandfather was a sniper in WW I and taught my brother and I everything we ever need ed in the Military about precision shooting.
@@edsullivan5417 very cool. My husband does long range shooting. Sometimes I kinda wish things could be more simple like it was a long time ago. Thank you for sharing!
I'm watching this video. I'm from Canada and curious if New Brunswick grows a lot of spuds! It sure does, along with Prince Edward Island. I'm guess all the soil from Maine up is Spud soil. Like your Vids.
Thanks for sharing great video hope everyone has a great day god bless I’m guessing that pipe in the storage building is just to keep the potatoes stacked up high enough for the conveyor to reach
The big grey pipes “culverts” are used to move air through the potato pile to keep them from forming pressure bruises, and to help them store better. Thank you for watching! Have a great day
I’ve been sharing you with my people/channels you need some vlogs of interest vibes, thanks thanks merry Christmas BigAl California praise Jesus Christ grace amen 🙏 ❤❤❤
Hello from Prince Edward Island, has it been a wet fall there? It certainly is here of late, we finished our spuds but have growers here that are having a hard time finishing up. How many acres and what varieties do you folks grow?
Good morning Patrick, it wasn’t a bad fall for us. We were able to get things done pretty efficiently this year. We had some low spots with some rot that we skipped over that were wet. But all in all things went pretty good. We grow mostly Norwis, and a yellow. This year it was a satina, but we haven’t had good luck with our yellow seed. Lots of rot. We grew about 150 acres this year. That’s pretty much the maximum we can grow unless we put up additional potato storage. We have had great years with our Norwis!
Well good luck with the rest of harvest, and from what i have watched in your video's your crop of round whites looks great. You do a nice job of filming and editing your videos. @@BellsFarming
Great videos! One of your videos came in to my TH-cam feed and I enjoyed watching your potato harvest. Is that a usual harvest or does it vary considerably depending on the weather? I grow spuds in my garden here in Southern Germany and was really pleased with my 60kg (132lbs) harvest this year!
Hey thanks for watching! It amazes me that my videos are reaching people! Our harvest have been pretty reliable the last years I have been at the farm. Lucky for us. 🤞🏻
They have a bunch of holes drilled in them, and air blows thru them to keep the potatoes healthy until it’s time to bag them and ship them to grocery stores .
Thanks for the video, learned some stuff today. Couple of questions 1. What breed are those fuzzy quadrupeds? 2. Some of the fields seem to be far flung from “the farm”. How do you move the equipment back and forth?
Thank you so much for watching us. The dogs are American Akitas. And yes some of the fields are far from the farm. We drive in the roads. Some fields are about 45 mins away.
Yes we drive all the equipment on the road. We will get a police escort to move the windrower. That is the widest piece of equipment we have. We will haul the skid steer on a trailer. And the really old John deer 4000. But yes mostly drive things on the road.
That potato house where they are stored is temperature and humidity controlled, it keeps the potatoes at the right conditions to make them last for a year. But yes we will start packing and shipping right away.
Last month another Utuber,,Not Farming explained some money issues on UtubE channels,The amount on subscribers and the amount of views are considered but he said that comments from viewers can raise the financial equation in your favor,so maybe encourage your viewers to make comments, Bob from Missouri
Potatoes are harvested for storage in October. We will bag them all winter long and spring. We usually have potatoes left in July - august just in time to start harvesting the next crop. Thank you for watching
Oh truck drivers aren’t truck drivers if they can’t drive a stick shift, nothing against you but it has dumbed down the trucking industry, you are a exception to that rule, but there are a ton of them thing they are driving there SUV when in there automatic shift big rig 🚛 thanks
Yeah, all the other trucks on the farm are standards. I’ll be driving one for potato harvest next year exciting! Haha our potato truck drivers are all retired guys who drive for two weeks a year. It’s amazing how older trucks are just better. They get the job done. Some of the trucks have been used for potato harvest for 20 years on our farm. They are a 1977 & 1978.
I do hear the name McCains a lot, I think potato farmers up north do a lot of business with them. As far as Cavendish, I know we do some business with Cavendish for fertilizers in the past.
I’m so glad you found the channel! We start in the old storage building, then work out way to the larger k-span. We bag potatoes all winter long. Potatoes are on the ground in the pile until March April, the we will have hundreds of the 1 ton tote bags that will last us until July- early August. We usually run out of potatoes right as our next crop is just ready to harvest!
We have a spray schedule to add nutrients fungicides and pesticides. Our pest management program is partnered with a local collage who sets traps in our fields to let us know what insects are present and pose a risk to the crops. That dictates what we treat for.
We usually have potatoes in there until late July early august. If everything works out the way we like it, we run out of potatoes right as the new crop is ready to harvest. We start digging for our local markets in august.
How many acres to raise potatoes on and how much do they yield per acre?
We grew about 150 acres this year. Our yields average about 500 hundred weight per acre. That’s 50,000 pounds per acre.
That's a lot-o- spuds!
OK. That answers one of my questions about yield. At 25 tons per acre, potatoes
have to be one of the most productive crops to grow on an acre of land. Even corn
silage produces fewer tons than that.
Great video. Really interesting. Thanks for sharing. 🇬🇧👍👍👍
Being a city slicker, I am amazed at seeing and at you showing and explaining what all is involved in harvesting, transporting, storing, cleaning, and packing potatoes 🥔.
Your videos are informative and fun to watch, Molly. I have the greatest respect for you and for Shane and for all of your crew.
Thank you Randy! I’m glad you enjoy the videos! Thank you for the respect and support💚
You are very welcome, Molly. You and Shane are awesome! Hugs 🤗 🫂
Thank You for all your hard work and dedication.
Thank you for watching and commenting:)
great i think this was the highlight of my day
Oh good! Love you Dad! Have a great day!
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for watching!
To think all of those potatoes will get scooped out with a little bucket on a forklift is mind-blowing.
Keep the dirty side down there driver, thanks for the video.
Molly, I'm glad all I have to do is to eat them!
Nice to see comments increase as well as subscribers, not by accident, you are a good videographer as well as an excellent presenter. As others have said stay safe and have a prosperous harvest.
Thanks for the kind words, I’m excited the channel is growing too. I’m sure video quality will get better as I learn more :) we are staying safe! Scary stuff though.
Hope you keep this channel going. Would like to see what planting season is like and the prep work required, etc.
I plan to! We bag a lot of potatoes over the winter, so I’ll be filming lots of projects to keep people hopefully entertained until more tractor work starts up again. I’m sure people don’t want to see bagging potatoes over and over again hahah.
Always enjoy your visits to the birds, contented birds make great sounds.
Always enjoy hearing your birds.
Another great video, I love the "down and dirty" videos, how your farm activities actually run. I love when you attach your video camera in key places to see how the equipment really works. I'm impressed with Shane's mechanical skills, ie: converting the bean combine to "Cornzilla" and all his duties!! Maintenance must be a full-time endeavor . Best of luck with your potato harvest.
Hey thanks Dan, I think that is a side of farming a lot of people don’t think about, how much maintenance goes into equipment! Thank you for watching! Another video is scheduled for Saturday morning :)
praying for everyone in your family and community
Until I came across your channel and started watching your videos, I hadn't realized that Maine was as big a potato 🥔 producer as it is.
I had no idea either until I married Shane! I’m from Ohio
I'm originally from Colorado Springs but have lived in the greater Seattle metropolitan area since 1985
Great video Molly and Shane
Being from Maine myself and knowing how close your farm is to Lewiston I hope everyone you know is safe!
We are safe. Yeah scary stuff. Some of the sites were a couple miles away.
@@BellsFarming Glad to hear everyone is good. It’s an awful situation up where you are and I’m sure that after a time and grief plays out that your community will come through this stronger then ever. There’s a heavy feeling around here as I’m a couple miles away from the national guard base in Saco that POS was stationed at and made threats against and is only a stone’s throw from the larger of our 2 elementary schools
Our harvest window was Oct. 1 thru the 15th , anytime past the 15th and your conditions could go south pretty quick . Nice spuds and awesome digging conditions . no sod . I dealt with a lot of sod over the years as we were cattle ranchers first , always trying to keep the cattle on pasture and then fight the sod rushing the potato growing ground .
That sounds like it could be a little challenging with the sod. No more cattle? I have dreams of having horse and cattle
@@BellsFarming Sod was my biggest challenge over the years . I sold the cow herd 8 years ago and leased the ranch. Happily retired spending my time between Yuma Az. and Washington .
I Love the videos keep up the good work ❤
Thank you! I will try ❤️
Be careful with those rings on while your working. God job!
So satisfying watching the loading the building with potatoes
I love time lapses! It is very satisfying. Thank you for watching!
Just subscribed. Good stuff! Thanks for doing them.
Welcome! Thank you for watching, I’m glad you enjoyed my videos:)
Good morning beautiful
Be nice to see what happens in off season, what activities you have in the winter and spring
We spend all winter bagging our potato crop, and doing and maintenance we have time for.
Your a hard working lady
Thank you very much! I enjoy working a lot. Farming is a good fit for me!
Great job driving the potato truck Molly
New subscriber here. Glad to see locals doing their thing.
Hey there, Thank you for Subscribing. Where are you from?
@@BellsFarming I live in Lewiston.
@@slimndalew1653 oh cool! Stop by and get some potatoes!! 😊
And a good trick in soft dirt /sand is 3or4 th gear and some speed low gears put to much power to the ground, I learned the hard way in the construction pits in LA California, thanks BigAl California
Gotta love Potatoes. I've hauled a bunch of them ,bulk ,boxed, bags.
I always wonder how potatoes was stored? Now I know.. thank you. Tks for sharing
Great video, love the timelapse stuff! Hope you guys stay safe!
Always enjoy your videos. I never realized Maine was a big potato growing state. Nice to hear you mentioning how the potatoes are loaded into the truck to prevent bruising. I saw a tomato harvester dropping tomatoes 10 or 12 feet into a truck. Made me cringe. I guess it doesn't matter too much if the plant is about to cook them up for canned tomato sauce or something.
Thank you for watching! Yes it’s crazy how food that go to processing plants get treated totally different than table stock
wow chestie!! what happened to the good views too cold up there oh well still interested
Hahah, yeah unfortunately it’s chili, I guess you will have to stay tuned, it will warm up eventually
Love to see this, I grew up just East of y’all in Belfast on my Grandfather’s Farm. After 26 years in the US Army, spending the majority of time in either jungle or desert, I can no longer tolerate the cold of winter in New England. I now live in SE Georgia, much more acceptable weather here!! Can only say You Down Easter’s rock!!!
Hey thanks for watching! did you ever have Bell farm potatoes while you were living in Maine?
@@BellsFarming I do not remember, that was in the 1950s, I do know that we ate most everything that we grew and Gramp would plant at least 2 acres of potatoes each year that we stored in one of our root cellars. We had 180 acres, about 60 was cleared and half that was pasture the rest we planted. Learned an awful lot about basic survival and living off the land. My Grandfather was a sniper in WW I and taught my brother and I everything we ever need ed in the Military about precision shooting.
@@edsullivan5417 very cool. My husband does long range shooting.
Sometimes I kinda wish things could be more simple like it was a long time ago. Thank you for sharing!
I'm watching this video. I'm from Canada and curious if New Brunswick grows a lot of spuds!
It sure does, along with Prince Edward Island.
I'm guess all the soil from Maine up is Spud soil.
Like your Vids.
Yeah I never knew Maine and Canada were potato country until I moved here. Thanks for watching and leaving me a comment!
Love your video's . Only came across your channel a few days ago. Best wishes for the future from the Republic of Ireland 🇮🇪
Thank you very much! I’m so glad you enjoy my videos. I have a couple more potato harvest ones, haha then on to the next project on the farm
Sounds great 👍. Stay safe over there.
Thanks for sharing great video hope everyone has a great day god bless I’m guessing that pipe in the storage building is just to keep the potatoes stacked up high enough for the conveyor to reach
The big grey pipes “culverts” are used to move air through the potato pile to keep them from forming pressure bruises, and to help them store better. Thank you for watching! Have a great day
I’ve been sharing you with my people/channels you need some vlogs of interest vibes, thanks thanks merry Christmas BigAl California praise Jesus Christ grace amen 🙏 ❤❤❤
I noticed that Lewiston is just up the road from Bell Farms. Hope all your family and friends are safe.
Thank you for your concern! Very scary. Schemengees is right down the road from the Lewiston side of the farm.
Hello from Prince Edward Island, has it been a wet fall there? It certainly is here of late, we finished our spuds but have growers here that are having a hard time finishing up. How many acres and what varieties do you folks grow?
Good morning Patrick, it wasn’t a bad fall for us. We were able to get things done pretty efficiently this year. We had some low spots with some rot that we skipped over that were wet. But all in all things went pretty good. We grow mostly Norwis, and a yellow. This year it was a satina, but we haven’t had good luck with our yellow seed. Lots of rot. We grew about 150 acres this year. That’s pretty much the maximum we can grow unless we put up additional potato storage. We have had great years with our Norwis!
Well good luck with the rest of harvest, and from what i have watched in your video's your crop of round whites looks great. You do a nice job of filming and editing your videos. @@BellsFarming
Great video! The large blue pipe is for air circulation so they dont rot correct? Cant wait to see how you take them out!
Yes that’s correct! It helps with pressure bruising too. I will definitely show that process!
How much corn in that load? Impressive
How long do the potatoes last in storage? Mine start to sprout in my pantry 😂
The goal is to make them last until July or august of next year!
Great videos! One of your videos came in to my TH-cam feed and I enjoyed watching your potato harvest. Is that a usual harvest or does it vary considerably depending on the weather? I grow spuds in my garden here in Southern Germany and was really pleased with my 60kg (132lbs) harvest this year!
Hey thanks for watching! It amazes me that my videos are reaching people! Our harvest have been pretty reliable the last years I have been at the farm. Lucky for us. 🤞🏻
10:48 What are the big blue pipes doing under the pile?
They have a bunch of holes drilled in them, and air blows thru them to keep the potatoes healthy until it’s time to bag them and ship them to grocery stores .
Thanks for the video, learned some stuff today. Couple of questions 1. What breed are those fuzzy quadrupeds? 2. Some of the fields seem to be far flung from “the farm”. How do you move the equipment back and forth?
Thank you so much for watching us. The dogs are American Akitas. And yes some of the fields are far from the farm. We drive in the roads. Some fields are about 45 mins away.
@@BellsFarming Tractors and harvesters as well?
Yes we drive all the equipment on the road. We will get a police escort to move the windrower. That is the widest piece of equipment we have. We will haul the skid steer on a trailer. And the really old John deer 4000. But yes mostly drive things on the road.
@@BellsFarming Thanks for the answers.
How do you keep the potatoes fron getting old, ??? Are they shipped real fast . Thanks BigAl California
That potato house where they are stored is temperature and humidity controlled, it keeps the potatoes at the right conditions to make them last for a year. But yes we will start packing and shipping right away.
Last month another Utuber,,Not Farming explained some money issues on UtubE channels,The amount on subscribers and the amount of views are considered but he said that comments from viewers can raise the financial equation in your favor,so maybe encourage your viewers to make comments, Bob from Missouri
Hey Bob, thanks for the good info! I hope you had a merry Christmas!
Ähmmmm.... who's eating all that ??? 🙄but anyway, really nice vid's, hello from Austria 👋👋👋
Hey there! Thanks for watching :)
how long are the potatoes in storage ?
Potatoes are harvested for storage in October. We will bag them all winter long and spring. We usually have potatoes left in July - august just in time to start harvesting the next crop. Thank you for watching
I live in northeast Ohio. we have 1 local potato farm and they have rocks. Don't see any rocks in your load of potatoes. Are you just lucky?
No, there really aren’t too many rocks in our fields. Just that one from the first full day of storage video!
I’m from northern Ohio, what city are you in?
Oh truck drivers aren’t truck drivers if they can’t drive a stick shift, nothing against you but it has dumbed down the trucking industry, you are a exception to that rule, but there are a ton of them thing they are driving there SUV when in there automatic shift big rig 🚛 thanks
Yeah, all the other trucks on the farm are standards. I’ll be driving one for potato harvest next year exciting! Haha our potato truck drivers are all retired guys who drive for two weeks a year. It’s amazing how older trucks are just better. They get the job done. Some of the trucks have been used for potato harvest for 20 years on our farm. They are a 1977 & 1978.
Thanks for the video. Has Irving (cavendish) or McCains moved into Maine ?
I do hear the name McCains a lot, I think potato farmers up north do a lot of business with them. As far as Cavendish, I know we do some business with Cavendish for fertilizers in the past.
Just found your channel, great videos! So how long will it take for the storage building to get emptied? Thanks
I’m so glad you found the channel! We start in the old storage building, then work out way to the larger k-span. We bag potatoes all winter long. Potatoes are on the ground in the pile until March April, the we will have hundreds of the 1 ton tote bags that will last us until July- early August. We usually run out of potatoes right as our next crop is just ready to harvest!
How much spraying do you do? Just curious
We have a spray schedule to add nutrients fungicides and pesticides. Our pest management program is partnered with a local collage who sets traps in our fields to let us know what insects are present and pose a risk to the crops. That dictates what we treat for.
@@BellsFarming Sounds like a win win for you and the college.
So how long can you leave those taters piled up in your building?
We usually have potatoes in there until late July early august. If everything works out the way we like it, we run out of potatoes right as the new crop is ready to harvest. We start digging for our local markets in august.