Claire Seymour

A road trip to see Scottish soft fruit customers.

Last week, Claire bravely let me leave the office and drive some 11 hours north to see our Scottish soft fruit customers. It probably won’t come as a surprise to a bunch of fruit growers, but there’s a really thriving, well-established soft fruit industry located around Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. While Scottish soft fruit growers areContinue reading

How to keep your vineyard tidy for tourists.

With a bit of luck, the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown will all stay on schedule and we’ll see tourists returning to vineyards across England in time for English Wine Week. Following on from WineGB’s tourism conference on 2-4 March, we thought it would be good to take a look at some of the machineryContinue reading

How to apply fertiliser efficiently in vineyards and orchards.

For those looking to improve plant health, yields and thus profitability, while keeping potential input costs to a minimum, the ability to apply fertiliser in only where it is really needed is pretty useful.   If you’ve invested in detailed soil analysis and your agronomist has been in to map your site, it’s now time toContinue reading

Just delivered: Fruit-tec ‘Edward’ mechanical pruning saw

In January 2021, we delivered a Fruit-tec ‘Edward’ mechanical pruning saw to the team at Boxford (Suffolk) Farms. Keen newsletter readers may recall that Boxford Farms took delivery of the UK’s first Fruit-tec REDpulse Duo defoliator last year, which you can read more about here. The Fruit-tec mechanical pruning saw, which has been specifically designedContinue reading

Seymour’s Spotlight: Fruit-Tec REDpulse Duo Orchard Defoliator

Last year at the National Fruit Show, we showcased a pioneering orchard defoliator from German manufacturer Fruit-tec. Working in partnership with ERO, Germany’s leading manufacturer of specialist viticulture machinery that produces the Elite and VITIpulse vineyard defoliators, Fruit-tec released its REDpulse Duo for top fruit growers.  The pneumatic REDpulse Duo orchard defoliator emits a high-frequencyContinue reading

Seymour’s spotlight: BMV E600A Vineyard Trimmer 

Located just outside the town of Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, Wales is White Castle Vineyard. The 5-acre vineyard was planted in May 2009 and 2010, with Pinot noir précoce, Regent, Rondo, Phoenix, Seyval blanc and Siegerrebe, with 1,000 Cabernet Franc vines added to the mix last year. To date owners, Robb and Nicola Merchant have beenContinue reading

Is your orchard sprayer really suited to your site?

The wet start to the 2020 growing season has left many farmers and growers battling challenging ground conditions. This year, the relentless rain meant that Charltons particularly struggled with one of its steepest sloping sites, finding it impossible to drive their trailed orchard sprayer on the persistently wet ground. Based at Rumwood Green Farm in Langley, Kent, Charltons is a fourth-generationContinue reading