Rox re pruning tool?

[midlf]

Rox you mentioned a battery powered pruning tool. Would you please provide some info on it. Capability, mfr, operation, capacity?? LL was thinking of a battery chain saw but I thought what you had for pruning might be a better choice.

 

[CRJCaptain]

I'll chime in here...I saw the same product and was intrigued by it also, as I'm planning to install a vineyard and will be doing a lot of pruning. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Here's a link that I got from the original thread (thanks, Rox). I'm not sure if this product is available in the US yet, as it's manufactured by an Australian company:

Electronic pruner

 

[rox]

I have one of these and couldn't do my job without it. They are pricey, but it is my main tool. I think my husband paid 1,300 - 1,600 Euros for it.

The company name is Pellenc.

This might be a better link
http://www.pellencus.com/4productspage/productsportabletools.htm
I tried to get you one in English since they are made in France.
On this same page please look at the tying machine. Most vinyards with any size at all use them.

The generic ter would be "Secateur" I had a demonstration on my farm by a competito to Pellnec, a company in France. They are both the same price, but when I go to buy again, ro get a second one I think I owuld take the other comapny. I cna't think of the name off the top of my head right now.

The reason I like the other one a bit better is becasue -
when you pull the trigger the blade goes all the way up, makes the cut and then goes back down to the resting position. With the competing model, you can flip a switch and the blade returs to the half way point instead of going all the way to the bottom. If you are prunning a lot of small diameter small thin branches it would be very handy to have the blade return to the midway point, you can trim a lot faster, probably twice as fast. Now when it is in the half way position you can only cut smaller branches but that is the point, you are cutting smaller branches and you can go faster.

Next time I am in town and past the dealer, I look in and see what that name is. I had a factory rep on my property who spoke very good English. + they ahve a very very nice option, you send in your Secateur once a year for a check up. They check it out, grease it etc. and install brand newblades every year for a very low pricee, I think it was like 40 Euros. So every year you get new blades.

These things are very very powerful, I can cut off a 2" across branch by pulling a trigger. They really are pro-level tools.

Today I worked on the almond trees, but tomorrow I'll probably strap mine on, I'll try and get my hubby to take a pick and post it. I didn't like the holster for holstering the secateur, so when we were in the USA over Christmas I picked up a leather tool pouch, and i jerry rigged my own hlster. It works great, but is the most fashion forward... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[hobbyfarm]

rox,
Have you looked into pneumatic shears?
Look here: <font color="brown">FelcoStore</font>. Air power would be much more durable than electric pruning and probably faster too.
You just need to add an air compressor.

 

[midlf]

Rox = thanks for the info. Yahzoo - if I did my exchange conversion right that is $1550US to $1900US. Pricey is correct. I'll have to check with their toll free number and see what they want for it in the states.

The Felco air operated unit posted by hobbyfarm looks scary. I don't think it is as convenient as it needs a compressor and hose. The Pellenc unit is all self contained. Now I have a new word, secateur. The spell checker chokes on it. Around here the I've only heard them called pruning shears or hand loppers. Google sure brings up a lot of hits.

 

[rox]

hobbyfarm & midleff,
Actually we do also have an air driven one.
We have an air compressor that runs from the PTO off of the tractor.

My hsuban hooked it up for me and I tried it but I didn't care for it. The reason is that air compressor is so noisy, plus I have that long cord going form my work area to the tractor. I spend a lot of time climbing inside the trees to cut, often at precarious angles holding on with one hand and leaning and streatching to reach a branch, and that umbilical air hose back to the tractor was an encumberance. I bet the previous owner of this property started with the air compressor set up and then moved up to the Secateur.

These secatures, Pellnec or the other brand are the way to go if you can afford it, and if your main job is prunning trees, it gets up on the priority list real high. The noise of the tractor and the air compressor was jsut to much for me. I like to hear the birds /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[rox]

I remembered that I picked up a brochure when I was at an ag show for the other brand. I jsut dug through my bag and found that other comapny. www.infaco.com
And it says they have a US Dealer- Bubco Inc. Lodi California 209-367-3885. They also show in the brochure one of those string tying machnes that the vinyards use. I see that I wrote down the price for the Secateur at 1,350 Euros before tax. They ahve all these different sales tax rates so I'm not sure exactly how much the tax is. It is really really a nice tool.

 

[midlf]

Infaco has some great videos on the web site. Both olive and almond pruning. I can see why you like this type of device. LL was impressed.

 

[rox]

midlff,
Hey thanks! I didn't even see those videos on the Infaco webstie. Since you mentioned them I went and looked, nice vieos. And I can assure you the machines really do work like that, they are so powerful, jsut pull the trigger and is cut off a branch very clean.

The Pellnecs are very reliable though it will probably be 10 eyars before I wear it out and can look at the Infaco. The Pellnecs and Infacos are equal in cutting and eliabilty weight differences you need to carry around is negligable between the 2 brands, I do like the Infeco better simply because you can set the blade to jsut go half way down and you can cut small branches faster. Plus the Infeco has an awsome holster, really heavey leather, the Pellnec holster is a iece of crap, i got rid of it already. Either one of these machines, if you have to do tree a lot of prunning you simply can't go wrong. You know what these would also be great ofr? If you had a raspberry patch or roses that you need to prune. I use my for climbing roses vines and I don't get stuck using these, they are so powerfull they jsut snip through the rose vines like butter. Anyone who has any quantitiy of fruit trees to keep prunned would love one of these.

 

[midlf]

Rox - as you mentioned both olive and almond trees I thought you would enjoy the videos. We are interested in these as LL has to be careful about blowing her wrist and finger joints. We would use it for controlling wild grapevine. The stuff is trying to kill every tree we have. and for controlling wild blackberry and buckthorn and for ornamental pruning. For the invasives it is cut and then dab with a herbicide wand I made. With 20 acres, mostly woods, we have a lot of cutting that could be done with this. Hopefully I will get a chance to call the infaco rep.