Mervyn Prior, a Farmer’s Weekly reader from Plettenberg Bay, has developed what he calls a “poor man’s tree-puller”. His son, who farms near Caledon, has problems with alien vegetation. The special feature of the Pula tree puller is the gripper, laser-cut from steel, which is placed around the trunk at a convenient distance above ground level. A chain, cord or cable connects it to a lever, handle or winch that supplies the pulling power.
Tension tightens the jaws of the gripper, causing its teeth to bite into the trunk. In the standard version used to extract saplings of wattle, gum, pine and other exotics, a 50mm diameter gumpole is used as a lever. The puller handles surprisingly large saplings and stumps, particularly if used with a 150mm length of 100mm-diameter pine or tube, to serve as a fulcrum.
The Pula’s main virtues are that it’s light weight, under 2kg as opposed to the 7kg of the commercial equivalent, and the price is under R200 compared to between R600 and R1 200. miniature version to carry in the pocket, on a belt or in a rucksack, weighs only 70g. It’s been developed to deal with the occasional alien sapling encountered on a walk and can be used by itself or with a sturdy walking staff for extra pulling power. cord replaces the chain used in the standard model and the trunk itself is used as a lever.
The initial pull is sideways rather then upwards, first putting tension on the roots on one side rather than on the entire root system. Practice quickly teaches the user how to find the weak spots. Mervyn has taken out a provisional patent and applied for a registered design.
Users have reported favourably on the Pula’s efficiency, particularly its light weight. At present the Pula is being made on a very small scale – Mervyn admits to not being very good when it comes to distribution and marketing, but he hopes to improve, and in time both pullers should be in full-scale production. – Chris Nel Contact Auriel Mitchley on (011) 889 0796 or e-mail [email protected]. |fw
