Takao Nursery Case Study
“We’ve been using the Mee System for over 30 years now. My daughter is taking over now so we’ll continue with what works for another 30 years.”
– Danny Takao, President — Takao Nursery
The Challenge
In Fresno, California, the summer temperatures are often over 100°F. From the get-go in the 1980’s, Takao Nursery needed a way to control the humidity and temperature of their greenhouse to keep a successful plant propagation business.
The Solution
Takao asked for Mee Industries’ assistance in installing a MeeFog system to provide uniform cooling and humidification over their propagation beds. With more consistency in the plant’s life, they were able to achieve a faster turnover rate, and match the quickening pace of customer demand for high quality plants.
Through the Years
In 2004, Danny Takao upgraded his MeeFog system with more energy efficient 5hp 3-phase motor and 1050 model pump, making sure his business could keep up with the increase in orders. The company has been happily cruising along, then with the announcement of the Mobile-Mee, they thought it would be a great time to try something new, and boost Takao Nursery ahead of the competition. While one of the first to adopt the Mobile-Mee as a greenery sprayer, Takao Nursery has had nothing but success with their new equipment.
“Cuttings were surrounded by a SUPER fine mist WITHOUT over saturating the foliage and WITHOUT impacting the wetness of the soil in the slightest! It’s exactly what you want to achieve when battling botrytis. Score: 10 out of 10.”
Thirty Years of Fog Technology
Takao Nursery has 120,000 square feet of Agra Tech greenhouses and 40,000 square feet of cold frames, under cover. The original MeeFog system was installed in the 1980s and was designed to humidify 25,000 square feet of the greenhouse. An array of 240 fog nozzles spans the area, with each nozzle covering about 100 square feet of plant beds. The nozzles are mounted on copper tubing installed about 10 feet above the benches and when operating, the ultra-fine droplets form a fine mist that fills the entire volume of air, evaporating quickly to increase humidity and cool the air.
In the early years Danny Takao tried other misting systems, “We’ve looked at other systems but always stayed with MeeFog”, he said. The MeeFog system is used for both cooling and humidification, and because of the high-pressure and tiny droplet size, the system is the most effective. “We are starting to do more drought tolerant plants so we need to do precision adjustments with the humidity to get better take on those plants. It would be impossible to do that with a conventional misting system.”
