F
f
rui t Tree
h
arvest ing
F
T
he
frui
TG
rower
• JAN
u
A
r
Y2017
two operatives on the harvester, but the extra re-growth on
some of the stems in this first field required an extra pair of
hands to remove it.
Around 90% of the young trees liftedmet Grade 1
requirements, having six branches, and10 of these are
bundled together and net-wrapped. There is nothing
inferior about the quality of the third grade (3 or 4branches)
and second grades (5branches); these are stacked onto a
separate pallet for sortingback at the farm.
o
nce 60 or 70packages of trees are stacked onto a
pallet it is ready for collection. This part of the operation has
changed over the years. Previously, full pallets used tobe
removed from the harvester by a tractor loader. This slowed
the operation because the harvester had to stop and
reverse to allow the loader tractor to exchange the pallets.
The new system, developed in-house, uses a hydraulic
lift/lower arrangement (the newestmachine has two) at the
rear of the harvester.
w
hen full, the pallet is lowered to the
ground and collectedby a tractor without the harvester
having to stop.
Anothermodification to each harvester is the
hydraulically-powered and angled rotor below each
machine. This levels the soil, providing an even surface for
the loader tractor todrive onwhen shifting full pallets to the
headland.
Depending on the crop and field size, each harvester can
lift between 9,000 and12,000 trees in an eight-hour day.
The field inGermanywas over 900m long, and each tractor
tookmore than an hour to cover the distance. Both
harvesterswere lifting at least 10,000 trees an hour, and
possiblymore.
24
®
made in Germany!
LODDER
FRUIT-TREE-ROOTSTOCKS
PORTE-GREFFES-ARBRES-FRUITIER
P O R TA I NN E S T O
UNTERLAGEN
®
DE
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