Tree planter PAYS DIVIDENDS: Prompt planting not only cuts costs but also boosts potential returns, says TVavis Allan

摘要

Yakima Valley Orchards used to plant trees by hand, with workers digging holes with shovels. Now, it has a three-row planting machine that has cut labor costs in half. But, Travis Allan, operations manager, said the real value of the machine has beenin getting the trees planted more quickly and in the optimum time frame, which yields bonuses down the road. Brett Calhoun, general manager of Yakima Valley Orchards, a division of Allan Brothers, Inc., in Yakima, Washington, designed and built the company's planting machine, which is towed by a tractor and has a platform with seats for six workers. Allan prefers to plant sleeping eyes rather than nursery trees. The machine, which is guided by GPS (Global Positioning System) technology digs a one-foot-deep trench down each row. Workers on the platform put the sleeping eyes in the trench. Then,three workers who are walking behind straighten the sleeping eyes, adjust the orientation of the buds, and pack the soil around them.