For many people the classic image of the backpack blower is associated to an operator assigned to the cleaning of the streets who blows to direct the leaves present on the sidewalks or on the side of the road towards the center of the roadway, where it’ll pass a sweeper to collect them. The blower is also used in the maintenance of green areas (gardening) or for cleaning large surfaces, perhaps after a public event (for example at the stadium).
Not everybody perhaps knows that the blower also finds application in agriculture, during the harvesting season of hazelnuts, chestnuts (fruits in the shell in general) and olives.
In fact, the use of the blower is ideal to clean from the leaves, twigs, etc., the fruits and then collect them, creating swaths to speed up the collection.
In the picture you can see the blower BL1200 at work in a hazelnut grove, which is preparing the collect performed by the vacuum Cifarelli (the machine in the background), which aspires the fruits directly into the tank, expelling the dirt and lightweight materials.
In some cases, the collection may occur, if the terrain allows, with sweepers or other self-propelled systems.
In the collection of the olives, although by now this is done with the use of shakers beaters, combs, etc. and the nets, in some cases, the blower can be useful. Infact it may happen that, due to windy days or with particularly strong storm, the olives fall and are scattered on the ground without the presence of the nets.
Besides after a downpour, when the soil is particularly wet, it is not possible to enter with tractors or sweepers in the olive grove. As it is known, it is necessary to collect the olives as soon as possible, to avoid their degradation (and that of the quality of the oil).
In this case most people use the blower which, thanks to its large volume of air, cleans the fruits from the fallen leaves, even when wet, and it groups the olives together, facilitating the collection.