Walberton Nursery recently took delivery of its new ‘Eazycut’ trimming machine on a rolling frame to help in the operation of trimming liners and plugs. The usual way of doing this would be to use a hedge trimmer to trim and then to manually clean debris from in amongst the crop in order to limit the risk of botrytis.

The new ‘Eazycut’ not only trims the crop but also blows the cutting debris backward into a collection bin, eliminating 99% of debris and cleaning. We invested in the machine because we knew that it would pay pack in a relatively short time but until we actually put the ‘Eazycut’ into practice we didn’t fully appreciate just how fast, precise and tidy a job it would do!

Take the annual Lavender trimming job for example, approximately 70,000 9cm liners to trim every year. In 2012 we trimmed 72,390 liners on 28 separate days and it took 97 man hours, that’s 746 individual plants trimmed per hour. This year we trimmed 61,600 Lavenders on two separate days and it took an astonishing 4 1/2 hours, that’s 13,689 per hour!! Once the machine is set up correctly, which takes only minutes, a bed of 4,000 Lavender liners can be trimmed in a matter of seconds. Watch the video and see for yourself…