I saved both time and money this year by using plant grow tubes from Farm Wholesale. I have tried other plant grow tubes over the past ten years and I feel there is a distinct advantage to the corrugated grow tube because of:

*Fast, even gowth of the vines with good light transmission and increased temperature inside the tube.

*Protection to the young vine from ultraviolet rays and herbicide drift and overspray.

*Protection to vines from browsing deer, elk, and rabbits.

*Ease of installation and removal of the tubes even on two year old vines.

*Ease of training and working with the vines without removing the tubes.

*Less space required when transporting the tubes and storing them when not in use.

A letter received from Bruce Henne, Owner of Apple Zone
Apple Zone continues to use our white corrugated sealed-flute plastic boxes to ship Apples to some of our retail accounts in Seattle. The accounts include Whole Foods, Pioneer Organics, The Produce Shoppe and Marlene's Markets.

We have now received the boxes back on several cycles from these various retailers, up to five cycles. Everyone involved is pleased with the results. We will continue to ship fruit in increasing volumes to these and other customers in the plastic boxes.

Our packing foreman, Paul Madden, found the boxes simple and easy to use in the packing and stacking phase. The bottom locking system is easy to assemble, and holds our fruit securely, and retains our optimum 35-degree temperature. Paul also does some of our deliveries to Seattle, and found that the boxes palletized, stored and then loaded easily. The handles are a definite advantage compared to most apple cartons.

Ronny Bell, owner/manager of Pioneer Organics, was pleased that the boxes have many potential use cycles, and that his crew readily adapted to their use. Ronny is considering how to use such a box in his various operations, including his organic produce weekly home delivery service.

We stacked the boxes 7-high; the apple industry standard palletized height. The boxes were in very good condition when returned, and will require only re-labeling for reuse. We believe we will get a minimum of 10 cycles from each box, and expect to average 15-plus cycles.

The corrugated plastic sealed-flute box is being integrated into our operations, and is gaining acceptance with our best customers. We anticipate working with Bruce Tormey of Farm Wholesale to obtain more apple and other fruit and vegetable containers to ship our premium produce.

Sincerely yours,

Bruce Henne Owner - Apple Zone

March 14, 2001

Dear Bruce,
Thanks so much for all your help in finding a plastic box for our company. The box you recommended was exactly what we were looking for. As you know, we are packing apples, pears and oranges in this box. We routinely put 38 to 45 pounds in the boxes and have no problems stacking them 5 high. Even when we put them in our delivery trucks, we will stack them 5 high and the movement and roughness of the road hasn't been a problem.

On our initial conversation about the plastic box we were hoping to get around 5 to 6 uses from them. It now appears we will reuse the box approximately 15 to 20 times and maybe more. I don't have to tell you what kind of savings that translates to me in reduced paper box purchases.

Another item of interest we have noticed is the fruit we put into our boxes seem to be staying fresher! We had pears in the plastic box and also in conventional paper boxes and the pears in the plastic were in far superior condition over the same period of time. We feel this is due to the ability of greater air movement with your box.

The box also works well on our packing line. It moves freely on all our conveyers and we had to make little modifications to adapt.

A real selling point with our clients is the fact they are recyclable. Most clients are happy to do away with the paper and returning the box to us hasn't been a problem.

Thanks again for all your help and we look forward to working with you and your company in the future.

John L. Butler

American Produce Express