Lawn & Landscape Announces Online Sweepstakes Winners

Three Lawn & Landscape readers can now call themselves winners as well! Hanna Pudenz, Tom Hewitt and Kevin Kenny are the most recent Lawn & Landscape Online Sweepstakes winners. Their prizes will help them and their companies with maintenance and installation projects in 2006.

JOHN DEERE BACKPACK BLOWER. Hanna Pudenz of Pudenz Irrigation, Durand, Wis., is the recipient of a John Deere BP65LE Backpack Blower. For the two-year-old irrigation business that she and her husband Ross run together, a backpack blower may seem like an out-of-place tool. Pudenz says she and her husband are looking at some new opportunities in lawn maintenance as their business grows.

“We don’t have any definite plans, but we’re spending the winter looking into possibly partnering with or buying some lawn care accounts and we’ll certainly need the equipment to make that successful,” she says. The BP65LE Backpack Blower features a heavy-duty John Deere M-Series low-emission engine, 190-mph air velocity and 630-cfm air volume at the end of the tube. A comfortable, padded backpack harness absorbs vibration for all-day comfort and fully adjustable straps fit every user. For more information, visit www.johndeere.com.

With cold Wisconsin winters, Pudenz says the company’s irrigation installation and service work won’t start until after the first frost – possibly as late as April or even May in their area. But once things get going, they’re looking forward to another boost in sales as their company grows. “Our first year, we did about $70,000 in revenue and this past year we reached $100,000, so we’re hoping to see that continue,” she says.

STIHL BACKPACK BLOWER. Also increasing his hand-held equipment arsenal is Tom Hewitt of Devise Development, Phoenix, Ariz. Hewitt is the recipient of a STIHL BR 500 Backpack Blower. The new blower will come in handy for Hewitt and his employees in their work on all kinds of contracting from landscaping to work on custom home building.

Hewitt tells Lawn & Landscape he’s been in business for four years and that work comes in pretty consistently in the mild Phoenix climate. An existing STIHL customer, the new backpack blower will be an addition to the equipment Hewitt already has.

The BR 500 is said to be one of the quietest and most powerful blowers in its class. With a rating of 65 dB(a), the BR 500 is specifically designed with a reduced sound level while still delivering superior blowing power to meet the challenges of urban landscaping. It’s also one of the cleanest running blowers in its class. The BR 500 is equipped with a high-powered with a high-powered, large displacement STIHL 4-MIX engine and offers exceptional fuel efficiency to help reduce operating costs and keep contractors working faster and longer. Advanced ergonomic features, including noticeably low vibration levels, are designed to reduce worker fatigue, even on the longest jobs. For more information, visit www.stihl.com.

EDGEPRO PAVER RESTRAINT. On the design and installation side of the industry, Kevin Kenny’s online sweepstakes prize is a pallet of EdgePro Paver Restraint from Dimex Corp. worth more than $4,000. The production manager for Marders, Bridgehampton, N.Y., says he’s sure the pavers will come in handy.

“We haven’t used this product in the past, so having a full pallet to work with will be a great way for us to demo it and see how it works and where we might be able to use it on our clients’ properties,” Kenny says.

EdgePro Paver Restraint is a unique one-piece restraint system that is heavier and more durable than other products, but flexible enough to preserve unique curves created by landscape designers. The product is made from durable PVC that will not crack, rot or deteriorate, and is designed for both straight and radius installations without snipping and cutting. The compact 7½-foot design is convenient and efficient for storage and hauling. For more information, visit www.dimex.com.