Weed Puller 101
The Bourquin Organic Weedpuller was designed to brush along the top of the crop to remove tall weeds in the row. A series of hydraulically driven wheels rotate like an old wringer washer, grasping weeds that extend above the crop row and pulling them upward and out.
The concept is uncomplicated. Very simple machine adjustments make the machine easy to operate and extremely versatile. It may seem simple enough, but there's a great deal more going on than two sets of wheels running together. The machines work on a variety of row widths and row counts, and the Bourquin Weedpuller can be front or rear mounted.
Early in our field demonstrations, farmers told us they liked the concept but it needed more work, and to come back when it was perfected. Well, WE ARE BACK. These are hardly the same machines we fielded several years ago.
We think the best program is to use the Weedpuller consistently, but we really shine when we make a crop out of a weed field. It's not uncommon to hear stories of the Weedpuller saving a crop that otherwise would have been lost. It would be interesting to know how many millions of crop dollars have been saved. Several of the features described here have new patents or are patent pending.
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What I've learned (and what farmers need to know)
The Weedpuller pulls glyphosate-resistant pigweed and other tough weeds.
Farmers: gone are the days of losing a low-lying crop to weeds.
Not every farmer needs a Weedpuller, but every farmer needs to know there is one available.
The Weedpuller is one tool, among several, to maintain normal weed control.
The need for a Weedpuller is greatest when unexpected or prolonged rainfall occurs.
For organic farmers, excessive rainfall can overcome even the best historical weed control programs.
Slowing the rotation speed of the rollers and tires improves pulling, as opposed to the jerking action of high-speed rotation. Picture how a reel on a combine works: we grab the weed, and the forward motion of the tractor does the pulling, much like pulling a weed by hand. The most common error is running the wheels too fast.
The notched Posi Pull disks have two actions. First, when the weed is tensioned between the rollers and the ground, the notched blade kicks the weed stem in the side, increasing pulling power, somewhat like the compounding pulley on a winch. Second, when the blades mesh, they clutch the weed between the blade notches and the forward motion of the tractor pulls it out. That's why we've been able to pull weeds with 1½-inch stalks.
Our first blades were too sharp. The new blades are thicker and blunter with a softer strike point, which helps pull weeds rather than cut them.
We have built specialty prototype machines for individual farmers' needs, and in the process made major advances for our conventional machines.
To get a narrow row, we paired a rubber tire running against a roller. The farmer reported that the tire-and-roller combination worked substantially better than tire against tire.
Also for narrow rows, we combined a larger tire against a smaller roller, reversed on the back set. When a weed gets halfway through the dual roller/tire combination, it has to make roughly a 2-inch jog, which puts the corners of the tires to work.
Brief recap: the Weedpuller uses (1) the forward faces of the front roller/tire combination, (2) the back roller/tire faces, (3) the notched Posi Pull set, and (4 and 5) the corners of the tires as the weed makes the jog. Each set would pull weeds on its own, but combining all five steps, in what I call redundant control, makes us extremely effective.