elevators and conveyors fit within the building to allow the grading and pre-shipment processes to be done inside. Te conveyor is designed to run in two directions to deliver either washed potatoes, primarily used for chips, or unwashed potatoes, which some companies prefer, to the trucks for loading.
Because potato truckers are paid by weight, loading the maximum amount without going overweight is their goal. Previously, John Jr. says, “Tey’d weigh empty. Drive here and back up to the elevator to load. Drive back to weigh loaded. If they were over or under weight, they’d drive back here to make the adjustment. Tat back and forth process was time consuming for them and for us. I designed conveyor scales that are accurate to one percent of the total load. It speeds that process.” John Jr.’s fabrication, cutting an old truck bed in half to make it longer so it will hold a half-semi-truck-load of potatoes, reduces trips from the field to the grading building.
Adding Bentgrass Also in 2012, Kevin became very aggressive in turf production, launching the bentgrass program. John Jr. says, “Tat allowed us to get into a different area of the golf course market and is opening greater opportunities for sales of all of our grasses.”
bentgrass. We’re currently working with four varieties: Luminary, 007, Penn Trio, and A1-A4. We use PGRs regularly and mow from three to four times a week to daily, depending on growth rates. We maintain most of the bentgrass at a height of .250 inches for greens, with a few acres maintained at .150 inches for tees.”
Kevin adds, “We get a good stand of bentgrass in six to eight months, hitting the tensile strength we’re after at around 12 months. Typically, we schedule harvest within that 12 to 18-month interval. Most sales are coordinated through our sales representative, Owen Regan. When golf course superintendents reach out to us in the spring with their needs for later in the season, we’ll hold those grasses for them. We’re also open to contract growing.”
Te other turfgrasses are grown on the farm’s clay loam soils. Bluegrass is a potential choice for golf course roughs, as is the 90 percent turf type tall fescue/10 percent bluegrass blend. Tey also offer a low mow bluegrass, maintained at .750 inches, which some courses use for their practice driving ranges and some use in fairways. Teir 100 percent fine fescue is used for roughs and the out-of-play, low management areas.
Tis close-up shot shows a Coombs’ bentgrass field.
Bentgrass is a high intensity crop that is monitored daily. Kevin’s Penn State studies provided the tools to manage its fertility, disease control and other best maintenance practices. He says, “Te sandy loam soil on one of our farms is well suited for
Approximately ten percent of Coombs’ sod sales are to landscape contractors and homeowners. Kevin says, “We don’t do installations, but we can work directly with installation contractors or help organize direct connections with them for our customers. A handful of customers pick up a pallet or two. Many of our landscapers choose our job site deliveries. We provide early morning drop off, spotting the pallets where they’d like them placed.”
Coombs sod equipment mix is a combination of standard machines and fabricated, or fabrication- enhanced, units. Tey have a 2007 Trebro AutoStack, a Magnum 42- inch big roll harvester and a Kesmac
TPI Turf News November/December 2017 John Sr. and his helper during potato harvest. In
the background is the reversing conveyor that allows potatoes to be shipped washed or unwashed.
2100 sod harvester, hand stack. Tey have six trucks and eight forklifts for standard deliveries. Te refrigerated trucks for potato delivery can be used for bentgrass when shipments travel extended distances.
Along with the truck used for precision application of dry products, they have a floater truck for the liquid applications. Kevin says, “John Jr. helped design and build the rig for that spray truck about ten years ago. It has a 60-foot spray width.”
John Jr. was concerned about preserving the sod at the edges of the cut from damage by the forklift tires. He says, “I found an 8000-pound forklift at a salvage yard and cut off the mast. I made a frame for it on the front of a John Deere 6430 tractor and mounted the mast. We already had a double set of forks that could be attached to the 3-point hitch on the back. Tis machine can now pick up and carry two pallets in the front and two in the back to deliver four at a time to the staging point. It saves time and, during the pick up, it’s always driving on bare ground.”
Kevin says, “John Jr. engineered the rig on our 22-foot wide, auto-steer, Land Pride mower, adding two extra decks that telescope in and out to extend the cutting width to 36 feet. At 22 feet wide, we can mow 10 acres an hour; at 36 feet wide, it’s a little over 16 acres.” Kevin purchased several used 8-foot-wide Jacobsen LF128 reel mowers and had a local welder use them to construct an 18-foot-wide reel mower that hooks
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