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.
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
You’re all set! You can access your free lean flow six sigma methods and tools here at any time. We’ve also sent you an email to this link (check your spam) 5 Lean flow six sigma methods & tools you can apply right now to your growing operation! Downlaod Now
FAQ about small nursery potting machines What is a potting machine? A potting machine is a piece of equipment that facilitates filling containers with growing media for plants. The machines typically lift material up above the container and then let it waterfall down over a container. Unused soil is recycled back into the machine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOlcvaZLI84&list=PLobFRv4mq2BqArU0o0m3OOYT06D5U5EQo&index=2 What type of electricity does a potting machine need? The bigger the machine the more electricity infrastructure is required. Large multi yard nursery potting machines often require a great deal of power. Commonly this is 3 phase 208V. In the US there are a handful
Pros and Cons of Field Application of Rice Hulls Here are a few things to consider when analyzing your options for rice hull application: With the field application, you do need to use 50lb bales so the operator can load the machine in the field. If an operator is not careful rice hull blowing can be messy and spread beyond the containers. You are able to allow small liners to grow larger and establish themselves into the new containers before covering with rice hulls. If applying rice hulls on a potting line, you risk jostling the plants when moving the
Who is STILT.PRO anyway? TL;DR STILT.PRO is on a quest for product ideas and collaboration. How it all started I started STILT.PRO while I was working for John Deere. Many evenings and weekends were spent at the R.A. Dudley’s nursery where I had a small office in the back of one of their shops. I could see the operation and learn about how everything worked. It was an invaluable opportunity. It showed me the pain points and operational needs around a wholesale nursery. I was immersed in the business and could see where there were needs for mechanization and equipment
3 Year, Unlimited Hours Warranty – INCLUDED
Includes: Problem identification, remote trouble shooting of issue, support and instruction for proper repair, and providing replacement of failed parts.
Excludes – Misuse of equipment (including using non horticultural potting mixes with high sand and field soil content) or improper care, such as leaving fertilizer in machine for an extended period of time. Wear parts (chain, slats, wear plates or surfaces). External physical damage inflicted on the machine. Labor repair costs.
Yes, we keep inventory of most all parts. Most all of the components are either US Sourced or a common off the shelf component. We are having some supply chain issues on components, but we are working through the best way to manage that.
All of our machines are designed right here in the US. We design these machines to be easily repairable by an inexperienced worker. Should a problem arise, you won’t need to weld or fabricate a new part. The entire machine is bolted together and you can simply bolt in a replacement part.
We have heard that concern, I get it, you won’t be able to load a machine up and let a person pot plants for a day.
Some perspective – The rear load machine holds about 3/4 – 1 cubic yard which is up to about 200 gallons of material. That gives you about 15 minutes of runtime without stopping.
The reason for the smaller equipment size is to primarily keep the price and complexity down.
-Increase horsepower requirements which means increased power – now you have to have dedicated power for the machine.
-Increasing the hopper size also increases the physical size of the machine which increases the overall cost and reduces portability
You may have not made a purchase on a potting machine in the past because of the overall cost.
From time to time, we hear that our production rates appear slow. Look at it this way though. You have 5 or 10 workers running a high-speed line. SOMETHING GOES WRONG, you now have all these people standing around and/or you need to find a different job for them.
If you have a machine problem with a high-speed line you’re completely shut down. With a cell-based design, you have a small part of the potting operation down. Your efficiency is similar whether you have 1 or 4 people operating STILT.PRO machines.
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