6 Best Two Row Potato Plows For Market Gardens For an Easier Harvest

There’s a specific moment every potato grower knows well: looking at rows upon rows of hilled potatoes and realizing every single one has to come out of the ground by hand. That feeling is a mix of pride and pure dread. For a market gardener, time is money, and a sore back is a liability, which is where a two-row potato plow changes the entire equation.

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Why a Two-Row Plow Boosts Harvest Efficiency

A two-row potato plow isn’t just about going twice as fast as a single-row model. It’s about a fundamental shift in your harvesting workflow. Instead of one pass per row, you’re clearing a whole bed at once, dramatically cutting down your tractor time, fuel consumption, and soil compaction.

The real magic is in the labor savings. One person on a tractor can unearth in minutes what would take a small crew hours to do with digging forks. The plow lifts the tubers and gently separates them from the soil, laying them on the surface for easy gathering. This means your harvest crew—whether it’s family, friends, or employees—spends their time picking up, not digging.

Furthermore, a well-designed plow minimizes crop damage. Hand-digging inevitably leads to speared potatoes, and a poorly set single-row plow can slice right through the goods. A two-row digger, properly adjusted for your row spacing, lifts the entire hill from underneath. This results in fewer culls and more marketable potatoes, which directly impacts your bottom line.

Bomet Gemini: Reliable Polish-Made Harvester

If you see a red, PTO-driven potato harvester on a small farm, there’s a good chance it’s a Bomet. These Polish-made implements have earned a solid reputation for being both effective and reliable. They aren’t the heaviest-duty option out there, but they are workhorses for small- to medium-scale operations.

The Gemini typically uses a single, wide share that slides under both rows, lifting soil and potatoes onto a vibrating chain conveyor. The PTO-driven shaking action is key; it aggressively sifts out the dirt, dropping clean potatoes in a neat windrow behind the machine. This design is remarkably gentle on the crop, leading to very few bruised or skinned potatoes.

This type of harvester works best in well-tilled soil without a lot of rocks, as stones can get caught in the conveyor. It requires a tractor with a PTO and enough horsepower to run it, usually in the 25-45 HP range. For a market gardener with a few acres of potatoes, the Bomet offers a huge leap in efficiency over a simple passive plow.

Everything Attachments Digger: Built to Last

When you prioritize durability and American-made steel, the diggers from Everything Attachments are hard to beat. These are not complex machines; they are simple, brutally strong implements designed to perform one job reliably for decades. They are built with thick-gauge steel and heavy-duty welds that can handle tough, compacted, or rocky ground.

The design is straightforward: two angled shares are mounted on a heavy toolbar. You adjust the spacing to match your rows, and the tractor’s forward motion drives the shares under the hills, lifting and rolling the potatoes to the surface. There are no moving parts to break, no PTO shaft to worry about—just pure, simple physics.

This simplicity and strength come with a tradeoff. These plows are heavy, so you need a tractor with the 3-point hitch capacity to lift them safely. They also don’t have a sifting mechanism, so in heavy or wet soil, you may end up with more dirt clinging to your potatoes. This is a plow for someone who values raw durability over mechanical finesse.

The Unia Kora 2 for Larger Market Gardens

For growers pushing the upper limits of a market garden, the Unia Kora 2 represents a step up in capacity and performance. Like Bomet, Unia is a well-respected European manufacturer, and the Kora 2 is designed for serious production. It’s a machine built for someone who measures their potato patch in acres, not just rows.

The Kora 2 is a PTO-driven shaker-digger, but it’s typically wider and more robust than smaller models. It often features adjustable agitation levels, allowing you to fine-tune the sifting action based on your soil conditions—more aggressive for heavy clay, gentler for sandy loam. This level of control helps maximize soil separation while minimizing crop damage.

Be realistic about your equipment before considering a machine like this. The Kora 2 demands a capable tractor, often in the 40+ horsepower range with a solid hydraulic system and a Category 2 hitch. It’s an investment for an established operation that needs to harvest a large volume of potatoes quickly and efficiently to meet market demands.

Titan Attachments Digger for Sub-Compact Tractors

Not everyone is running a 50-horsepower tractor. For growers with sub-compact or small compact tractors, Titan Attachments offers a viable and affordable two-row digger. These implements are specifically designed to work with the lower horsepower and lift capacity of Category 1 hitches.

The design is typically a lighter-weight version of a passive plow, with two shares mounted on a toolbar. To keep the weight down, the steel won’t be as thick as on a heavy-duty model, and the overall frame will be more compact. It’s a smart compromise that makes mechanical harvesting accessible to those with smaller machines.

The key is to have realistic expectations. A lightweight plow like this will excel in well-prepared, loamy soil. It will struggle, however, in dense, compacted clay or very rocky ground. It’s a fantastic tool for getting started with mechanized harvesting on a small scale without needing to upgrade your tractor.

Field Tuff FTF-6023PT3 for Versatile Use

The Field Tuff two-row digger often hits a sweet spot for the diversified market gardener. It’s built to be adaptable, making it useful for more than just one type of crop. This kind of versatility is a huge plus when every tool on the farm needs to earn its keep.

This model is a 3-point, passive plow, but its defining feature is often its adjustability. The shares can typically be spaced at various widths, allowing you to use it for potatoes planted at 30 inches, sweet potatoes at 36 inches, or even digging other root crops like peanuts or garlic. It’s a middle-of-the-road implement in terms of weight and durability—sturdier than the most basic models but not overbuilt for a compact tractor.

This is the right choice for the grower who needs a reliable tool for multiple root crops. If you’re harvesting several different things throughout the season, a versatile plow like this saves you from having to buy, store, and maintain multiple specialized implements. It’s a practical, efficient solution for a farm with diverse plantings.

CountyLine Potato Plow: An Accessible Option

For many, the most practical option is the one you can actually get your hands on. The CountyLine potato plow, available at Tractor Supply and other farm stores, is the definition of accessible. It’s an affordable, no-frills tool that gets the job done for small-scale growers.

This is a basic, passive two-row digger. It features a simple A-frame design with two fixed or slightly adjustable shares designed to lift potatoes out of standard-width rows. There are no bells and whistles, which also means there’s very little that can go wrong with it. For someone harvesting a quarter-acre of potatoes, it’s often more than enough plow.

The tradeoff for the accessibility and low price is in the construction. It’s made with lighter-gauge steel than premium brands, so it won’t stand up to the same level of abuse or handle extremely challenging soil conditions. But let’s be honest: for many hobby farmers and market gardeners, it’s the perfect entry point into mechanized harvesting without a major financial commitment.

Matching Your Plow to Your Tractor and Soil

Choosing the right plow isn’t about finding the "best" one—it’s about finding the right one for your specific situation. The decision rests on three key factors: your tractor, your soil, and your scale. Get one of these wrong, and you’ll end up with an expensive piece of yard art.

First and foremost, your tractor’s capabilities are non-negotiable. Check your 3-point hitch category (Category 1 or 2) and its lift capacity. A plow that’s too heavy is not just inefficient; it’s dangerous, as it can make the front end of your tractor light and unstable. If you’re considering a PTO-driven model, ensure your tractor’s horsepower meets the minimum requirement.

Next, be brutally honest about your soil. Light, sandy loam is forgiving, and almost any plow will work well. Heavy clay or rocky ground requires a much tougher, heavier implement with strong shares that can penetrate without bending or breaking. A lightweight plow will just skim over the surface of compacted soil.

Finally, consider your scale. If you’re growing a few hundred row-feet, a simple, affordable plow like the CountyLine is a sensible choice. If potatoes are a primary cash crop covering multiple acres, investing in a more efficient and durable PTO-driven harvester like a Bomet or Unia will pay for itself in time and labor savings very quickly.

Ultimately, a two-row potato plow is a game-changing tool that bridges the gap between back-breaking manual labor and efficient, sustainable harvesting. By carefully matching the implement to your tractor, soil type, and the size of your ambition, you can make harvest season faster, easier, and far more profitable.