Random Ramblings: Aerial Wildland Firefighting: Aerial Applications in NJ Cranberry Bogs: Loading dry fertilizer

The pictures that I am posting show the steps involved in loading the dry fertilizer into Downstown's Ag Planes. On this day, Oct. 17, 2012, two of Downstown's Ag Cats and one Downstown AT-602 applied dry fertilizer to 700 acres of Pine Island's Cranberry bogs over three hours. Pine Island has approximately 1,400 acres of cranberry bogs near Chatsworth NJ in the NJ Pine Barrens. I'll be writing more about Pine Island in a later post, so stay tuned. Downstown will fertilize the remainder of Pine Island's bogs via aerial application before election day in early November. If things work out, I'll be going down to Chatsworth to see this last aerial application of the season, so stay tuned.

The bags of dry fertilizer are stored in the Dry Area, a building on the Air Strip (Haines Air Strip) that Downstown uses located near the Pine Island cranberry bogs. A forklift takes pallets of fertilizer from the building out to the pad in front of the building. Each bag is lifted by the forklift over the loader bin, where one of the crew opens the bag so the dry fertilizer is dumped into the loader. Finally, the loader is moved into position next to the Ag Plane, in this case the AT-602, where the dry fertilizer is conveyered into the hopper of the Ag Plane.

I did not time the loading operation from start to finish, but I'd say that an Ag Plane is loaded in the matter of a couple of minutes. Bags of dry fertilizer are on the pad ready to go for the next Ag Plane that has to be loaded. The loader is moved back to the pad for its new load of dry fertilizer ready for the next Ag Plane to be loaded.

I need to point out what I am writing about here and in the next few posts involve aerial applications of dry fertilizer. Liquid aerial spraying is very different from the mixing of the materials to the loading to the actual aerial application (aka spraying). Another building on the Air strip known as the "wet area" is used to prepare these liquid materials. Av gas and jet a fuel is also stored in the wet area. I hope to be able to observe liquid aerial applications next year when Downstown applies liquid fungicide to the cranberry bogs.

Bags of fertilizer in dry area

0-0-50 (dry) fertilizer used in this aerial application

Bags of fertilizer on pad waiting to be loaded into loader, forklift on left, loader on right in front of pad

Loader untying bag of fertilizer over bin on loader

Bin on loader filled, waiting to be loaded into AT-602. Building in background is "wet area"used to prepare and load liquids for spraying, note water tanks. Jet A Fuel and Av Gas are stored in the wet area building.