STILT.PRO was founded by Tom Knuth in 2018 with the mission to provide their customers in the wholesale nursery industry with Simple products and solutions that employ appropriate AgTechnology and are designed and MadeTough. Since then, STILT.PRO has been working hard to understand the needs of their customers, grow relationships, and identify and work with growers to solve their problems in a collaborative manner.
(218) 343-2650 TomK@STILT.PRO
Tom Knuth is the founder of STILT.PRO. Prior to STILT.PRO, Tom was a Senior Design Engineer at John Deere and Systems Engineer at Cirrus Aircraft.
He has worked on several notable projects, designing the landing gear and brake systems on the SF50 Vision Jet for Cirrus, and with John Deere designing critical structures and components on the 4R series tractors, leading agricultural backhoe development and strategy, and leading innovation initiatives where he invented and patented the John Deere Quik Knect which won an AE50 award in 2020.
He has a BSME from Michigan Technological University where he was the chapter president of Sig Eps and is a Professional Engineer (Licensed) in the state of Georgia.
In his spare time, he likes to…, wait, he doesn’t have any of that right now. Tom splits his time between his business and with his 3 boys and very supporting wife. When he had a little more freedom, he enjoyed spending time outside, working in the shop, remodeling his home and learning how to do new things.
Hi, my name is Rick Player, Director of Business Development at STILT.PRO. I am excited to be apart of the STILT.PRO team.
I grew up in central Georgia on a farm where we raised cotton, peanuts, soybeans, and corn. My job after cotton growing was to keep it sprayed; it was a once a week process, so I lived on a John Deere sprayer. After high school, I went into the Army served in Germany for three years. I then was recruited into the DEA, where I served for three more years. After that, I spent four years at Philips Medical Systems as a heart cath equipment specialist. In 1987 I opened MIT (Medical Imaging Technologies) and served as President for 32 years. I sold MIT in April of 2018; it was a bittersweet end to a great run. When Tom moved STILT.PRO into my facility in Thomson, I was excited to learn he works in the agriculture business.
When I’m not working I like to travel with my wife and golf at new courses. We spend time at the lake and hunting in the fall. We live on 20 acres, so a lot of my time is spent mowing and planting. It’s incredible how good grass grows when you get lots of rain.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds for STILT.PRO; I am here to serve our customers and build new relationships in the plant nursery industry. Thanks.
Jonathan Mims is the Product Engineer, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. This is his first job in the agriculture industry, but he’s no stranger to working with his hands, or CAD work. He has helped his grandfather, or papa, as he calls him, in the yard since he was a child, plus handyman work. He has used various forms of CAD software since freshmen year in high school. He has worked as a Lane Mechanic at a local bowling alley, and as an Automotive Technician for Lexus. He also designed fire sprinkler systems for various buildings before joining our team.
In his free time, he’s more of a home body, unless he’s spending time with family and friends. He also does work on vehicles on the weekends or trains his dogs.
Hello, I am Addison McCord, the Vice President of Manufacturing and a student at Clemson University. I am majoring in Agriculture Mechanization and Business. Yep, that is right, after only two semesters I am already a Vice President, that’s just the Clemson difference. I have been involved in agriculture most of my life but really got the Ag bug in high school when I joined FFA and got to enjoy all that Ag has to offer. Throughout high school I worked with a forester in South Georgia and my senior year I got a job as a part time student at John Deere in Grovetown, Georgia. In college I have worked at Clemson’s Simpson Research and Education Center. As you can see Agriculture is a big part of my life and I am here to improve you and your plants livelihood.
Now that schools out and I have finally found some free time. I spend it out on the golf course trying to figure out if I will ever shoot par on 18, Spending time with friends, and various woodworking and metal working projects with my father. Come fall you will find me glued to all college football games, especially Georgia football games as a lifelong fan 4 years at Clemson will not change that.
We’ve got our hands in a bit of everything from IoT software development, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering to Manufacturing and Field Service. Lets talk! Introduce yourself – TomK@stilt.pro
Green Profit – Trending Now – June 2021 Skip the hand mixing and upgrade your potting bench to the Ground Grinder Mini. An integrated 1/2-yard, all-in-one compact small batch soil mixer and potting machine. Load and fill from the front. It features an integrated soil return hopper to recycle material back into the machine. Made in the USA. https://www.ballpublishing.com
Soil Mixer | The Ground Grinder mini Speed up your soil mixing For those growers on the smaller side looking to make life a little easier, STILT.PRO recently introduced the GROUND GRINDER mini – a semi-automatic, bale breaker, soil mixer and flat/pot filler designed with the small grower and garden center in mind. Load your DIY potting mix in the front through the integrated soil return grate and automatically return unused potting mix. This soil mixing machine will provide an effortless job and a clean workspace. Change WHO can do the job of filling pots and flats. Normally, you would
Nursery Digital Twin Connect the real world to a digital world REMOTE productivity reporting and monitoring of equipment. ONSITE displays visualizing productivity and key info. BE ALERTED of temperature extremes, humidity fluctuations, security breaches, heater, fan, equipment and power failures. REAL-TIME updates, so you can act – fast. Like this idea? Lets talk!
Trigger Happy Fertilizer Hit your plants with an accurate dose of fertilizer! We’ve got your plants covered with this granular fertilizer applicator. Throw the fertilizer filled hose over your shoulder, grab the reigns of the modified cordless drill. Pull the trigger and a precise dose aligned with your fertilizer needs is dispensed into the plant directly in front of you. Rocking this highly productive nursery fertilizer dispenser, your team won’t fatigue out. Minimal trigger effort, high capacity hopper, accurate dosing feeder aligned with the scoop sizes you’re used to make this unit a win for your plants growth. Consistent and
mobile progressive sticking On the go and need to do some sticking? We’ve got you covered. Drag this guy around to where your propagation houses are and stick your cuttings into the trays on their way into the greenhouse. Mobile Progressive Sticking. Take advantage of progressive sticking Minimize damage to sensitive plants Keep your team off the ground and out of the greenhouse Conveyor is battery or generator powered Don’t know what progressive sticking is? Check this link out: https://www.greenhousemag.com/article/gm0414-maximizing-efficiencies/ Like this idea? Lets talk!
6 Nursery and Greenhouse Equipment Must-Haves to Skyrocket Efficiency and Prevent Plant Loss Growers need tough hard-working machines to get the job done. Whether you are managing the complexities of a greenhouse to make sure you deliver your poinsettias for Christmas or you are a nursery ensuring your product is ready at the right moment to deliver to customers for the spring season, you rely on your hard-working equipment and team to hit those deadlines. Check out these equipment ideas to streamline efficiency so you can rock your production and hit those numbers. 1. GROUND GRINDER | 1 Yard Soil
