The Holmac HZC 16-22

Let me tell you just a bit about what it does and see if it could help you in your nursery situation.

The Holmac has a high quality, Italian hydraulic system powered by a 22hp, water-cooled diesel engine (see the Technical Specs link). It has a rotating, vibrating blade which cuts under the plant; lifts the plant up and puts it on the burlap.

This machine provides a real competitive advantage in the nursery industry. (See the Customers' Comments on the left for what some our customers say about their experience with the machine.)

With a footprint of only three feet by five feet, it can easily maneuver between rows and trees while working. The rubber tracks apply a mere two pounds per square inch to the ground, so it can drive across beds or work close to plants without compacting the soil the way heavy tractors or treespades do.

Does digging trees trash your fields? Hand digging creates oversize holes and big piles of soil. Driving, working or walking where trees have been hand-dug is tricky and dangerous. Repairing the damage is costly. You know what a tree spade can do to your roads and fields, as it tears up the area and compacts the soil.

The Holmac takes only as much soil as the tree needs. It leaves NO mountains of soil and only minimal round holes behind. It is light on the ground (no compaction). The back blade can smooth out any tracks it leaves.

A 2-person team can dig your order whenever you need it dug. The Holmac is there when you need it-- all day long, in any weather, ready to work at a steady pace.

With just one operator and an assistant, the Holmac averages one minute per ball to dig the tree, lift it onto the burlap, then go on to the next tree.

The crew absolutely loves the machine. We dig the plant, throw down a flat wire basket with two arms length of orange bailing twine tied to one of the stars of the wire basket. We then throw down piece of burlap, use the Holmac to set the plant on the burlap and tilt it slightly till gravity slides the rootball out of the machines blade. We pull the burlap up, tie up the wire and its done, total time, right around 90 seconds. That's digging, wrapping and tying. Not bad! We can do that all day long with the Holmac.

Many times we do the wrapping right at the end of an aisle where a tractor can easily pick up the plants rolled onto pallets. This keeps the heavy tractors out of the soil in the field and reduces the compaction problems that creates.

We have found that walking the plant to a central wrapping area can save a lot of effort in many ways, keeps the crew all together in one place along with the burlap, wire strings and wire tightners, and the pallets. We can keep all the supplies in a 4-wheel trailer and just keep moving along.

Working steadily down a bed, The Holmac can extract 30-60 balls per hour, 240 to 480 balls per day! The fastest reported number of balls dug per day is 800. It is easy to see how this machine can radically reduce labor expenses -- up to 75%!

Plant Oregon is the US Dealer for the Holmac, and we use Holmacs in our Nursery. The Holmac has made a huge difference in our business. It has given us the confidence that we can get the plants out of the ground when we need to. We are no longer wondering if we can find good diggers on the mornings that we need to get orders out.

We can guarantee the survival of our trees because they have been rootpruned at least once. (If a tree is going to die or get wimpy on us, we want it to happen here, rather than have a customer disappointed after they buy a plant.) A root-pruned plant can have a smaller ball according to industry standards, too. That saves on shipping costs.

We can plant more plants because they are easy to harvest, and we have a dependable way to get them to market. We can use closer row spacing because the Holmac is so compact.

The nursery need have no more overgrown crops, or too close spacing, because we can thin, cull, or move to consolidate and make better use of our precious field space.

The key to this Machine is the fact that the blade vibrates at a very high speed and just cuts through the ground like warm butter. I have seen the blade cut through roots 4" in diameter (not that the plant was too thrilled about it).

The variety of blade sizes from the little 12 inch all the way to the massive 32 inch, each fits quickly and easily onto the machine by sliding the blade arms to accomodate the size. There are two blade arms, one for blade sizes 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, and 22 inches. The large blade arm goes on for the 24, 26, 28, 32 inch blades.

It is easy to adjust the digging depth as well, when setting up to dig. The depth control is simply a matter of choice, one hydraulic lever lets you dig as deep as you want. When you are through digging, the same lever lifts the arm to carry the plant to the burlap.

The machine is very easy to operate. It just takes a few digs to get the hang of it. You know your plant material, and the plant will tell you how it wants to be dug: how big is the root spread, do the roots go deep or are they shallow and wide? You can use a bigger blade but go shallow. That is what we like to do. Look at the root system of your plants and do what is best for the survival of the tree.

This machine can save you money on labor, and reduce your headaches with regards to digging labor. It will improve the finish quality of the plants with the rootpruning abilities as well.

One of the first machines I sold went to a fairly large nursery here in Oregon. They saw the chance to save some real money and paid for the machine with the savings in labor over just a 3 month period. They reduced the digging crew from 12 people to just 4. That's a savings of 8 people, 8 hours a day, paying $8.00 an hour each. In 3 months the machine had paid for itself and the nursery was saving over $500 per day in labor costs.

The Machine costs $28,800, FOB Talent. It comes ready to hit the ground working, including 3 blades and a blade arm of your choice. We include a tool box and manual, too.

We are very happy with the way this machine is holding up over the years. We stock parts for the machine in case of its breakdown. We are proud to say we are friends with all of our customers and every one of the machines we have sold is running to this day, being a productive addition to the nursery industry.

The Holmac company in Italy is truly wonderful to us and has always been helpful, kind and generous with the owners of the machines. The factory has expanded in the last few years to meet the demand for the Holmac and is better than ever, making minor upgrades to the digger as time goes by. The machine we sell today is nearly identical to the first one we bought in 1994, which is alive and healthy and working every day right here in Talent, Oregon.

You can feel confident that this machine is tested by the industry and has many hundreds of thousands of rootballs under its belt, (so to speak). Change the oil, filters and grease it, have your operators respect it as a valuable piece of machinery and this machine could become one of your favorite tools and a profitable investment.

Please feel free to call me, e-mail or otherwise get in touch to discuss how the Holmac might serve your needs as a nursery professional.

Sincerely, Dan Bish Plant Oregon US dealer for the Holmac HCZ 16-22

dan@plantoregon.com        1-800-853-8733        FAX (541) 535-2537

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