NEW HAMPSHIRE NEWS 



New Products- 

 New Hampshire Made 



TAK Equipment, Inc., the new 

 enterprise of Dave Murray, Mur- 

 ray Farms, Penacook, is designing 

 and fabricating innovative prod- 

 ucts for the greenhouse and nurs- 

 ery industry. 



The first product developed at 

 TAK (you may have seen it at 

 the NHPGA Summer Meeting) 

 was a "Bulk Bag Handler" that 

 can be used both indoors and out. 

 It's on wheels; the boom will go 

 through a 7'6" door, but it is five 

 feet wide: it needed to be that 

 wide in order to straddle a 60- 

 cubic foot bag, but in most green- 

 houses, that width is no problem. 

 Dave claims he played devil's 

 advocate — after hearing enough 

 people complain about the diffi- 

 culty of handling bulk bugs and 

 about not being able to get a fork 

 lift or trailer into the greenhouse, 

 he decided to design something 

 that would do everything these 

 people claimed couldn't be done. 



Four hooks on the boom are 

 hooked onto the four straps on 

 the bag. The boom lifts by means 

 of a 12-volt hydraulic pump (on 

 the same principle as a dump 

 truck hoist) operated by a 

 rechargeable battery. 



The second product being 

 developed is the "TAK Bench," 

 a heated bench that is designed 

 to be able to lend itself to virtu- 

 ally any configuration (with- 

 house, peninsular, rolling, station- 

 ary) or style (ebb-and-flo, trough 

 watering, expanded metal) 

 wanted. Basically, TAK custom- 

 builds according to the buyer's 

 specifications. Benches can be 

 designed with an 18" section that 

 can be telescoped out to give 

 more bench space during the busy 

 season. 



Hot water heat is incorporated 

 into the design by incorporating 

 heating pipe into the bench sup- 

 ports (Dave uses the term "pedes- 

 tals"). The pipe is connected to 

 a central below-ground heating 

 pipe; enough heat is produced to 

 heat the entire house. Four con- 



trol valves on the main pipe al- 

 low up to four separate heating 

 zones within each house. 



"If an owner is looking for a 

 new benching system," Dave 

 says, "and doesn't currently have 

 a hot water boiler, TAK pedestals 

 still make sense because you still 

 get custom-built benching and if 

 you ever do change to hot water, 

 all you have to do is hook up the 

 pipes." 



Aluminum troughs for the 

 benches are also being fabricated. 



All three products are current- 

 ly available. For further informa- 

 tion, call Dave Murray at (603) 

 753-6781. 



Master Gardener Class 

 Offered 



(from The Boston Globe, 

 October 18, 1992). 



The UNH Cooperative Extension 

 will offer a "grow how" Master 

 Gardener Program for people in- 

 terested in expanding their gar- 

 dening knowledge. This pilot pro- 



gram will be offered in Hillsbo- 

 rough, Rockingham, Merrimack, 

 and Strafford counties. 



The fifteen weeks of classes 

 will be taught at UNH Manches- 

 ter from January 19 through 

 April 27. There will be 45 hours 

 of classroom instruction, support 

 material, and optional hands-on 

 training. Topics include basic bo- 

 tany, insect and disease control, 

 flower and vegetable gardening, 

 and tree and shrub care. Upon 

 completion of the program. Mas- 

 ter Gardeners will be re-quired to 

 give 30 hours of community ser- 

 vice, thus extending the informa- 

 tion learned into the community. 



The deadline for registration 

 was November 30, but there will 

 be other programs. For further in- 

 formation call the extension's 

 Merrimack office (603-225-5505) 

 or write UNH Cooperative Exten- 

 sion, 327 Daniel Webster High- 

 way, Boscawen, NH 03033, 

 Attention: Master Gardener 

 Program. 

 continued on next page 



TIPS 



from the Qriffin Quru 



WHEN YOU'RE IN A RUSH- 

 CHECK OUT THE SPECIAL! 



Go to any good restaurant or diner (if you can find one), and 

 you will find a daily special. The management plans it that 

 way. In order to market it as a special, they purchase the 

 components in the right quantities and at the best time in 

 order to maintain the lowest cost. All ingredients are 

 brought together for that brief time in which the special is 

 offered. This is so structured and fine-tuned that in order to 

 turn a profit, they have to add the words, "No substitutions, 

 please." 



Why does the management run a special? Because they 

 want to give their customers the very best for their money — 

 within a quick turnaround time. Whether it's stuffed peppers 

 or greenhouses, all the components are there when the cus- 

 tomer wants them — ready to move out fast and reasonably 

 priced. 



December 1992 & January 1993 

 7 



