Freedom in pruning work thanks to the “Cordless electric scissors”

The fact of choose to use  one or other scissors on a pruning day is a decisive factor. The tools available on the market for this type of work are improving very fast and if a few years ago the leap from manual to electric scissors was an achievement, nowadays, the use of cordless scissors (battery included in the scissors) is a further step the professional pruner undoubtedly appreciates, because the freedom of movement achieved is significant.

We had the opportunity to work with the Agritec Flora PC32 scissors, of the Italian manufacturer “Agritec” which is distributed by our friends at Agrinativo. The main performances that we could highlight of these scissors are below:

• No power cable.
• Progressive cutting.
• Cutting capacity up to 32mm.
• Aperture adjustment in two positions for 32mm and 20mm.
• Ergonomic handle and weight around 1kg with good weight distribution.
• 3 lithium batteries with an autonomy of 3 hours. Charging time 90 minutes.
• 350W motor (brushless motor).
• High quality steel blade and counter-blade.
• Simple and quick lubrication system.
• Very quiet

In order to work with these scissors, we visited our friend Santiago, who was pruning a airen young vineyard about 9 years old (perhaps for older vines where the shoots have a high diameter, the recommended model is the Flora PC40). Our sensations after a morning's experience were very positive, highlighting the speed of cutting, the light weight of the scissors, the speed of closing and above all the great freedom that comes from not having a power cable. Finally, it is a breakthrough in pruning tools. They will leave behind corded scissors and especially hand scissors because their price is around €400.

Versión en español.

Millimetric work in purple garlic sowing task

We return to one of our favourite crops and undoubtedly the most important crop for the economy of our area... "Las Pedroñeras" Purple Garlic. We spent a morning with our friends Jesús, Benito and Sergio and it was really great to be able to see how they sow purple garlic. 

From the beginning of December till the end of January is the best time to sow purple garlic. The Sprint garlic was sown in September together with the white garlic (it has practically ceased to be cultivated in our area), it is the turn of the most important and highest quality garlic, the purple garlic. 

Sowing task must be carried out with great care, as it is the first step towards a good summer harvest. Therefore, the working speed is around 2.5 km/h and the dose to be planted is very important. This dose is controlled by the number of garlic clove sown in one metre, which is around 11 garlic clove/metre. If you calculate the length of the row and average the weight of each garlic clove (varies according to the size of the garlic), you can determine kilograms you need to sow one hectare. 

As you can see in the video, they are working with two JJ Broch 8-row mechanical seed drills, so they can sow a lot of hectares per day. These machines allow tractors to work without problems, with a very low engine speed. This was the opposite of another pneumatic machine from the same manufacturer, which required a lot of engine revolutions for the air turbine to generate the right flow rate. Another important point in the sowing machine is the correct choice of the pinion to be used, which will depend on the size of the garlic cloves and the quantity to be used per metre. In addition, the size of the spoons that take the garlic cloves from the hopper must also be correctly sized so that they do not take double garlic or fail to catch it. 

Finally, another tool that is almost indispensable nowadays is the autoguidance that is used, which for these jobs requires maximum accuracy and therefore an RTK signal. The John Deere 6130M works with John Deere autoguidance and the Massey Ferguson 5713S works with Cerea Spanish autoguidance. 

Versión en español.