ELLERHOOP, Germany: The German city of Ellerhoop will host the 12th edition of Baumschultechnik from August 29-30, 2019.
Ellerhoop is a city 25km north west of Hamburg and located in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, known for being the country’s epicentre of nursery stock production (with over 4000ha of nurseries owned by 300 growers).
The two-day event will feature around 300 exhibitors and will take place at the Horticulture Centre in Ellerhoop (Gartenbauzentrum Ellerhoop). An anticipated crowd of 6,000 industry professionals with be presented with the good and great of nursery equipment. Among the highlights of the show are the devices for sustainable weed control and plant protection, specialised horticultural drones, precision guided row crop equipment as well as robots that may revolutionise work at nurseries.
Here’s our selection of new plant technology:
Alternative weed control
XPOWER-Weed Control by High Voltage Electric Power
Electric applicators run high-energy power (8000 V) through the weeds including their roots. Power is generated by an electric generator at the tractive unit in the back of the tractor. Electric applicators are available with a working width of 3 m. Electric applicators for different row cultures and in-line weeding of plantations are under way. Operating speed 3-5 km/h. The equipment will be presented by Zasso of Aachen (www.zasso.eu).
Grasskiller for band application
This machine, made by Dröppelmann (www.droeppelmann.de) kills weeds with cold water at a pressure of 1000 bar. A jet of water penetrates the ground about 3-6 cm deep. With electro-hydrostatical steering the rotary head works within the rows of trees. The machine uses 0.3 l water per meter. Within a tank it carries a supply of 2000 l water.
Soil disinfection
Optimized Soil Steamer
The trailed soil steamer of the company Mobildampf.de (www.mobildampf.de) works successfully in German, Swiss and Austrian nurseries for several years. Some of the difficulties of the machine were a large turning radius, not enough directional stability and the hydraulically operated spike harrow’s susceptibility to damage. The companies Mobildampf.de and Zorn Sondermaschinenbau (www.zorn-sondermaschinenbau.de) improved these weak spots. The newly designed machine uses the proven steam generator of the company MSD (www.moeschle.de).
Forigo Sterilizer for Application of Basamid
Machine specialized in the application of solid fumigants into the soil with stone burier base and professional stretching of the plastic layer on beds’ surface in one step. The machines can be delivered with different working width from 110 cm. After removal of plastic cover, seeds can be sown directly upon beds without further tillage. Producer – Roter Italia (www.forigo.it).
Crop protection
ASM – single arm air asistant boomsprayer
Single arm air assistant folding boom sprayer with maximum arm of 12 m. Especially made for container nurseries and higher crops in the field. The tractor for carrying the sprayer should have 80 to 100 PS and being able to deliver at least 60-80 l/minute for running the blower. The equipment is presented by ASM Østervang of Denmark (www.asm-ostervang.dk).
Tractor mounted precision guided row crop equipment for three beds
With this machine three beds can be sprayed between rows simultaneously. Even though planted by GPS, there are small deviations in distance between rows and beds. To overcome the uneven planting, the unit for each bed is controlled separately with the help of a mechanical sensor. The sensor sends a signal to a hydraulic cylinder which steers the tool. The machines of two Dutch companies – Elco machinebouw B.V. (www.elco-machinebouw.nl) and Schrauwen Machinebouw Zundert (www.s-m-z.nl) – work in the same way and are therefore presented together.
Drones
DJI MG-1S Agras-specialised drone for Agriculture and Horticulture
Drones in agriculture and horticulture are mainly used to monitor plants. Professional drones with larger lifting capacities and longer flight time are rare. DJI is the company who specialise in manufacturing drones for agriculture. The German distributer is Solectric (www.solectric.de). The drone DJI MG-1S Agras has a lifting capacity of 10 kg and can work for 22 minutes. It can be equipped with standard jets from Teejet. Country specific regulations must be adhered to.
Robots – autonomous devices
Naio Oz – autonomous tool for cultures in row
For several years this small robot of the French company Naïo Technologies (www.naio-technologies.com), 100 x 45 x 60 cm and a weight of 150 kg is sold already. It is powered by electrical motors with rechargeable batteries and can work 3-10 hours. The machine can autonomously do cultivation work on fields with inter row distances of 60 cm and more. Steering is done by lasers and camera systems.
Naio Dino – autonomous robot for bed cultures
The carrier Dino is mainly designed for mechanical weeding of vegetable crops on beds 1.8 m wide. It can be converted to the standard bed width of 1.5 m used in nurseries. Depending on the rechargeable battery and the mounted tools the machine can work 4-8 hours. It moves autonomously on fields with the help of cameras and GPS. Detecting and destroying single weeds is not possible yet. Presented by Naïo Technologies of France (www.naio-technologies.com).
Robot HV 100
Autonomous robot of the American company Harvest Automation (www.public.harvestai.com), which is designed to perform material handling tasks in unstructured, outdoor environments such as putting pots down or moving them. Local sensing technologies that do not depend on GPS recognize pots or obstacles and measures distances between pots. The robot can handle pot sizes from 13 to 32 cm diameter and can move up to 240 pots per hour. Its lifting capacity is 10 kg. It works 4-6 hours with one battery load and it weighs 50 kg.
Trooper nursery robot
The Trooper nursery robot of the French company INSTAR Robotics (www.instar-robotics.com) is a prototype of an autonomous robot which can move and transport container plants. The robot is able to carry up to six plants at any one time on the above attached platform.
RowCropPilot
Robot Makers – the German company located in Kaiserslautern (www.robotmakers.de) – equips vehicles of other manufacturers like Aebi (www.aebi.at) or Damcon (www.damcon.nl) with intelligent steering technology to work autonomous. Instead of depending upon GPS Signal the RowCrop Pilot works with a complex laser scanner. Row Crop Pilot enables machines to mow or do band spray applications autonomously.
Automatic grading
Automatic Grading of woody plants
Grading is still one of the most time consuming jobs in production. GEJO Grading is the only manufacturer who currently offers a fully developed machine. The process is restricted to broadleaved plants. The Belgian company SMO bvba (www.smo.be) together with the Belgian nursery Sylva present the prototype of a new machine at “Baumschultechnik”. The machine measures 12 x 15 m and sorts 4000-6000 seedlings per hour via picture data processing by criteria length and diameter.
Multi-equipment carriers
Flunick, autonomous multi-equipment carrier (pictured)
The multi-equipment carrier is built as a crawler type vehicle by nursery owner Andreas Reichenbach from Switzerland (www.baumschulen-reichenbach.ch). The track gauge can be adjusted between 1.5 and 2.5 m. Distance between rows of plants should be at least 50 cm. Plants up to 2.3 m can be straddled. Flunick is powered by two independent Diesel engines. There is no driver’s seat, the machine is steered by remote control or automatically by GPS. Flunick is suited for mechanical weed control, fertilization or other applications (www.semesis.ch).
Multi-equipment carrier as crawler type vehicle
Minimizing pressure on soil and the possibility of working on boggy ground were the goals of developing this multi-equipment carrier. All standard nursery tools can be mounted on this tractor. With GPS these tools eg. soil auger, can be used. It is forwarded electronically and hydraulically and has a maximum travel speed on roads of 15 km/h. This machine is individually manufactured by customer’s request. Presented by Ezendam Rijopleidingen of the Netherlands (www.ezendam.nl).
For more information visit www.nurserymachinery.com and www.baumschultechnik.de
