AUTOMATIC FEEDING TRANSPLANTER

A transplanter that automatically feeds seedlings from the cell tray in which they were grown into a transplanting mechanism which transfers them to the furrow has been designed and field tested. Rods enter the bottom of the cells and push the plant rootballs onto small planting rods which transfer the plant to the furrow. The mechanism operated effectively at speeds up to 3 cycles per second but some rootballs disintegrated when pushed onto the planting rod and dropped the plant. Because the machine has significant potential further development is continuing.