PlantTape - Automated Transplanting System for Enhanced Efficiency
The world’s most adaptable transplanter
Where other automated transplanters rely on complex computer systems, actuators, and sensors, the planting mechanism for the PlantTape 3-point automated transplanter is 100% mechanical.
Line-to-line spacing can be altered in the field to allow for many different bed configurations. Growers can plant fields with different bed configurations on the same day with some mechanical adjustments using simple tools. Plant-to-plant spacing can be altered on the fly via a console touch-screen.
Hydraulic-drive planter modules
PlantTape’s planter modules are driven by a hydraulic system. The hydraulic drive allows consistent spacing, even in challenging conditions, unlike chain-and-sprocket ground-driven transplanters that often slip or skip plants in sandy or slick soil.
PlantTape’s hydraulic drive also enables precision planting far beyond that of ground-drive transplanters. Where a ground-drive transplanter might allow plant spacing of 2” intervals, PlantTape’s transplanter allows for extreme granularity with quarter inch increments in spacing.
Easy transplanter learning curve
Employees can be taught to operate the PlantTape automated transplanter in as little as 15 minutes. No special skills or training is required; the PlantTape system is that simple.
The PlantTape planter is fast. So fast, we think it’s the world’s fastest transplanter. We took it up to 20mph, just to prove it could still maintain precision planting at that speed. Note that a planting speed of 4-6 mph is recommended for normal operations.
An automated transplanting phenomenon
The PlantTape automated transplanting system sets an industry standard for efficiency and ease-of-use. Growers of vegetables, tomatoes, and hemp can double or triple transplanting output while slashing labor costs by 80% compared to alternative transplanting systems.
From the nursery, trays of PlantTape transplants are loaded into bins and shipped to the planting site.
The PlantTape transplanter can accommodate 68 trays of seedlings. At 840 seedlings per tray, the transplanter holds around 57,000 plants.
As the transplanter is pulled through the field, its planter modules pull the PlantTape material from the trays. Each tray’s tape is clipped to the next to provide a seamless transplanting pull-through from tray to tray.
The planter module cuts the tape between plants and places each seedling into the soil according to precise plant spacing and depth settings.