Walk-Behind "Flamer" Also Plants, Cultivates

Walk-Behind "Flamer" Also Plants, Cultivates CROPS Weed Control 28-6-28 The new Weed Master is the perfect tool for large gardens or nurseries that are too big for hand hoeing but not big enough for a tractor. The walk-behind tool carrier is designed with wide steering handles and a waist high web belt that the operator walks into to push the unit through the field. A multitude of attachments are available from seeding equipment to hoes, sprayers and flamers. "Most of our customers are small, mixed vegetable farmers with several crops in small areas," says Petri Leinonen, president of Elomestari Oy, the Finnish company that makes the Weed Master. "They need to be able to make fast, versatile adjustments." The most popular attachments for the unit are the propane flamers. There's a 40-in. wide flat panel flamer with two large burners and a row flamer with 7 3/4-in. wide covers that keep the heat between the rows to protect the crop. Leinonen suggests also using the row flamers for pre-emergence weed control over the row areas. "You can treat 2 1/2 to 5 acres per day, making it useful even on larger fields when heavy rains might prevent entry with tractor -mounted flamers," he says. The carrier also works great for hoeing weeds. Options include 6-in. cultivator sweeps, rolling disks for weeding and hilling on light soils, and a finger hoe. Leinonen says the finger hoe works between the plants in the row, often eliminating the need to hand weed. The Weed Master can also be fitted with an Earthway seeder attachment that comes with 11 different seeding plates. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Petri Leinonen, Elomestari Oy (Ltd.), Koskitie 185, FI-95520 Kukkola (Tornio), Finland (ph 358-16-472000); (fax +358-16-472001; website: www.elomestari.fi).

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