| The NEW way of digging plants at Sherman Nursery
Company. |
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Four tractors work in tandem to harvest
shrubs.
Now, digging bare root plants is accomplished in record time at Sherman Nursery. |
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| This is a close up shot of the bare root
diggers. They undercut the roots, lift the plants and shake off most of the soil. Two rows
of shrubs are dug during one pass of the tractor. |
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| So here is the cool part. Now, Sherman Nursery bales
the plants. A hay baler collects the plants for transportation. |
First a fungicide spray is applied to the bare root
plants. |
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Next the baler lifts the plants and
rolls them into a bale. Twine is applied to hold the bale.
One baler can easily keep up with the four tractors and digging crews. |
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This method is great for plants that are
'flexible'. These dogwood shrubs are perfect. It is not a great method to use on stiff
limbed shrubs. The bale method accounts for about 60% of the harvest at Sherman Nursery.
Bet you thought that was just a common yellow school bus in the background. Nope,
that's the Official Millennium Edition Transportation Vehicle of
the Sherman Nursery worldwide sales staff and their management team. It even came
with a Limited Edition Blue Cooler stocked with your favorite bottled water or soft
drink. |
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| While plants are held snugly they can be
pulled from the bale. It may seem hard to believe, but damage to the plants is held to
almost zero. The old method of harvesting results in many more broken and unusable plants. |
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