Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/178281
Rears Airblast Sprayers POWERBLAST Hollabaugh Bros. Like the Knouse operation less than eight miles away, Hollabaugh Bros. is a successful family operation. It was started in 1955 by twin brothers Donald and Harold and passed on to Brad and Kay, Neil and Georgia, and Steve and Vicky. Now, their children, Bruce and Amanda, Ellie and Erik Vranich, and Wayne, have joined in. Kay said the recent expansion of the market came when their children committed to the business. Early on, the Hollabaughs wanted to keep their orchard people-friendly and planted dwarf, pedestrian orchards. Only recently have trees become taller as they have adopted high-density 3.5- by 13-foot plantings on three- and four-wire trellises, and they are using platforms for thinning and training trees. While the Hollabaughs maintain both retail and wholesale operations, much of the wholesale involves direct sales to people who also sell direct through farmers' markets and buy the fruit they sell. In either case, it is extremely important that the orchards have something ripening every week throughout the marketing season. Bruce and Brad say the market dictates much of their daily activity. They have to know what will be ripe, communicate that to Kay and Ellie who run the market and to Neil who runs the wholesale business, and then respond to calls for fruit from the orchard. While the farm is heavy to apples—350 acres of the farm's 550 total—Bruce says, "We have everything but cherries in fruit, and all the vegetables." www.goodfruit.com Interchangeableaxialflowfans to match blade pitch and air volume to your application and horsepower. Electricfanclutch RearsConstantVelocityHitch powers through 90° turns Rearscentrifugal pumpandRears gearbox: manufactured by Rears for more than 40 years. Simple pressure adjustment to maintain accurate calibration in different row spacings. 400 gallon TTN profile Powerblast Thisisatimetesteddesign forawiderangeofapplications. PULBLAST Today, Knouse Fruitlands has two parts, fruit and vegetable growing, and the Round Barn market. The company operates eight farms totaling more than 1,200 acres, of which about 700 acres are fruit. Retail sales account for less than half the income. The name Knouse is virtually synonymous with processed apples. The family's ancestors include Milton E. Knouse, who gave his name to Knouse Foods, the largest fruit-processing company in the East. Not surprisingly, 60 percent of the apples grown on Knouse Fruitlands go there for processing, and the rest is either packed for fresh or sold through the Round Barn Market. The large family enterprise is headed by matriarch and president Janet T. Knouse, who retired from active participation in 2007, turning it all over to daughter Tonya Knouse White, who is general manager, sons Milton II and Brian, who are production managers, and grandsons Kyle and Kevin. The business has been in continuous operation starting with Milton Knouse and has never been owned by anyone outside of the Knouse family. The Knouses purchased the round barn in the 1980s and converted the lower level—once used to house livestock—into the marketing area, and the huge cathedral-like upper feed storage area into a center they rent for weddings and other events. Brian showed off his GPS-guided tree planter that plants arrow-straight rows and his special planting of more than 20 rows of more than 20 varieties of trees, all on Bud.9, arranged by order of ripening. The idea was to use it for pick-your-own, with pickers able to start at one end and advance to new rows as the season progressed. They have since abandoned you-pick. The planting is still useful, Brian said, "just so you can see how the different varieties grow." Brian is proud to be one of the first to grow Honeycrisp. "I started 20 years ago," he said, "but people didn't know them and wouldn't buy them, so I quit planting them." Now, of course, Honeycrisp is an important variety for their market, and they're planting more of it. The market itself follows the shape of the barn, with long curving lines of shelves. One area contains a small museum of antique hand tools. The barn was built in 1914 by the Noah Sheely family. It is 87 feet across and 60 feet tall. Noah Sheely is credited with having planted one of the earliest apple orchards in Adams County, in 1878. Automatic Rate Controller Option •Enterdifferentrowspacings: the controller automatically maintains your rate per acre. • Compensatesforchanges ingroundspeed. Variablepitchfans available in 28" & 36" dia. 100-600gallonunits with tank profiles for your application. RearsConstantVelocityHitch available for most Pul-Blast models Pistonactuateddiaphragmpump orRears centrifugalpump. uge vy Ga eel Hea ss St tainle ction S are tru Cons d all tank hardswteps 400 gallon wheel-well Pulblast • 52" outside tire width w/11Lx15 tires • adjustable width wheel centers n rouds, tank a Spray asement, sh air doors c , Tower lds, louvers using o Manifo d blower h n an Fa Towers bring the nozzle closer to the spray target. Tower height and profiles to match your application. Tune air volume: adjustable air doors independently control target zones Match Rears' aggressive air delivery engineering to your application with Vertical Wall,Over-the-Row, or GrapeElbowtowers. in in made a made a us us Agricultural Equipment and Dealer information 800.547.8925 Good Fruit Grower OCTOBER 2013 27