Orchardists' Field Day

Fruitgrowing is a sophisticated business, if some of the machinery on display at a recent orchardists' field day is any indication. Orchardists who attended the field day at Ian Ripley's property, at Mariri, viewed machinery ranging from the humble tractor to modern picking and pruning mechanical aids, sprayers, and a carton sealer. During the afternoon session, various irrigation systems on other properties were inspected.

A Platz orchard sprayer goes through its paces. This model holds 220 gallons and the spray jets out at a wind velocity of up to 100 mph

An ingenious picking and pruning aid is the Campbell boom balance, which is an efficient replacement of a ladder. The operator stands on a small platform at the end of a 10ft boom. On the other end of the boom is an 11cwt block of concrete. For those who detest the noise of machinery, this invention is appealing. The designer, Keith Campbell, of Alexandra, stands on the operating platform

A sprayer comes under the critical scrutiny of a group of orchardists

Among those who attended were Vincent Strong and Jack Rowling, both of Mariri

John Hansen, of Lower Moutere, demonstrates the Hawk hydraulic platform

Ian Ripley's Afron hydraulic platform is the only one in New Zealand. Manufactured in Israel, the versatile machine is worth $3500. The 14hp engine drives both front wheels independently, making the unit highly manoeuvrable.

A N.Z. Fruitgrowers' Federation field representative, Don Salton, helped conduct the field day, which was organised by the Motueka association. Here, Don addresses the crowd from John Hansen's Hawk hydraulic platform

Previous article Issue contents Next article

All images and text on this website are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 New Zealand (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/nz/).

The Nelson Photo News

No 146 : December 9, 1972

Orchardists' Field Day