For those looking to improve plant health, yields and thus profitability, while keeping potential input costs to a minimum, the ability to apply fertiliser 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 to look […]
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Essential equipment to make orchard and vineyard spraying easy work.
When I ask growers what machinery they’re looking for at the moment, the majority say that they just want equipment which will make work easier. One very simple piece of kit which does just that is our new generation sprayer controller, the SprayTrol. First tested by Nick Seymour in the UK, this combined spray rate […]
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 […]
The best way to protect commercial fruit, vines and vegetable crops from frost.
Frost damage is devastating. Smaller crops do not just mean fewer returns for growers; the economic impact goes far beyond the farm gate as it often means less for the pickers, the packhouses, the contract wineries, the packaging and labelling suppliers, and retailers too. Last year vineyards across the UK experienced one of the worst […]
Is your sprayer really suited to your site?
The wet start to the 2020 growing season has left many farmers and growers battling challenging ground conditions. Based at Rumwood Green Farm in Langley, Kent, Charltons is a fourth-generation family fruit business growing apples, strawberries and cherries on approximately 445 hectares, across 11 sites, all located within a 5-mile radius. This year, the relentless rain meant that Charltons […]
Made to measure
Having worked at Hall Hunter for 27 years, Carl Eatwell has seen the family farming business evolve from a vegetable and root crop grower, with a small strawberry PYO, into a commercial multi-site operation, which exclusively grows soft fruit for the UK’s major supermarkets. Today Hall Hunter’s soft fruit plantations extend to 700-acres, spilt across Berkshire […]
Opening up the canopy
We’re currently seeing an increased demand for mechanical deleafers as vineyard managers look for more cost effective ways to open up the canopy, increasing sunlight exposure and air circulation. Unlike other defoliators which use what’s known as an air blast system, the ERO leaf stripper, which Sam uses for his vineyard management contract work, has two […]