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Continued from Page 7<br />
To be effective, the knives have to be more destructive and the machine has to<br />
keep the nuts inside longer for the destruction process. Rears Mfg. of Coburg,<br />
OR introduced a machine in 2014 that aimed to address the issues in pistachio<br />
sanitation. Growers are giving the Sanitation Mower good marks, but note that<br />
orchard floor management plays a part in successful destruction of pistachio<br />
mummies.<br />
Jacob Mendrin with the Specialty Crop Company in Madera said the Rears<br />
sanitation mower does a decent job of busting up the shells and destroys more<br />
mummy nuts than a conventional flail mower.<br />
Mendrin said the ground conditions pay<br />
a large part in the effectiveness of the<br />
sanitation mower. Orchard floors with<br />
excess vegetation trash and grooves<br />
and ruts make it difficult to destroy the<br />
mummies.<br />
It also depends on how high the knives<br />
are set, Medrin said. Guys that like to<br />
conserve them, will set them higher<br />
so they will last longer. Others will put<br />
them right on the dirt to cut up the<br />
nuts.<br />
Jamieson Rear of Rears Mfg Co. Inc.<br />
said the folded cup knife used on most<br />
conventional flail mowers is not aggressive<br />
enough to destroy pistachio mummies.<br />
That action is important, because<br />
the tool must pulverize the mummies to<br />
eliminate their use as an NOW overwintering<br />
site.<br />
Rear said there is also not enough<br />
interference in the blade path of the<br />
conventional orchard mower, leaving<br />
nuts to flow through the housing largely<br />
unimpeded. In addition the discharge<br />
opening should be restricted, sending<br />
nuts back into the shredding cavity.<br />
An effective machine has to be designed<br />
specifically for pistachio mummy destruction<br />
in one pass to be economical.<br />
In addressing the limitations of the conventional<br />
flail, three rows of interference<br />
in the shredding cavity increases turbulence<br />
and the amount of nut impact.<br />
Fewer intact mummies are blown out of<br />
the mower due to a recycling door that<br />
restricts discharge.<br />
Comments about this article? We want<br />
to hear from you. Feel free to email us<br />
at article@jcsmarketinginc.com<br />
8<br />
West Coast Nut October 2018
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