Handling and planting plants

Details Handling and planting plants Handling and planting plants

2000-06-23

2003-04-01

Novosad, Christopher J. (Department: 3671)

Planting

Plant setting

Drilling machine

C111S919000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06539883

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to various improvements in equipment, apparatus and devices for handling and placing plugs and plants into soil and growing mediums.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
To achieve maximum economic returns it is necessary to plant plants at a precise depth, these plants are to be vertically positioned and at a uniform, precise distance plant to plant along the row, with each position being occupied by a live plant.
To achieve this in the past it has been necessary to have a substantial input of hand labour straightening plants and hand planting plants into positions not being occupied by plants. It has been found that the degree in which soil has been compressed around the plug will seriously effect the development of the root system, plant growth, and ultimate crop yields. If, for example, the soil is loosely filled around the plug, then a partial form of aerial root pruning occurs slowing down the speed at which the roots can spread. If the plug is positioned so that the top of the plug is above the top of the soil, then a form of wicking occurs causing the moisture that rises upwardly into the upper regions of the plug by capillary action, to be totally exposed to wind and sun which rapidly removes the moisture from the plug causing water stress, wilting, and in extreme cases, the plants death.
For the majority of cases, a shoe opening device is used to separate the soil ready to receive a plug containing a plant. By the nature of a continuous trough being formed in the soil it has proved difficult to properly compress the soil immediately behind and in front of the plug. This is further exacerbated by high speed planting which causes the soil to act like the wake behind a speed boat with the shoe travelling at a greater forward speed than it takes for the soil to envelop the plug. Also the greater the speed, the longer the distance is behind the soil opening device before the soil closes behind the “wake” and totally envelops the plug.
Traditionally a mechanical linkage attached to a pusher block pushes out the plug and plant, but the pusher block only extends to the rear edge of the furrow opening shoe. This has been done to avoid contact with the soil and to avoid the transport of the soil back inside the shoe. However the result traditionally is that the plug is not handled beyond being placed loosely in the open trough following the forward moving shoe and results in very uneven placement of the plants.
Traditionally a timed mechanical pushing assembly works proportionate to the forward speed of the machine and must be mechanically timed to coincide with the variability of the drop speed of the variable weight and size of the plug and plant. Previously and traditionally, the back of the soil opening device or shoe, has remained open allowing the premature escaping of the plant and inaccurate placement and possible dislodgment of the plant by external wind. This problem has been partly addressed in Williames International Patent Application No. PCT/AU97/00893 now U.S. patent application Ser. No. 331906, using a vertical guillotine door, but on this basis there are limitations to the speed in which plants are contained and released, with the bottom half of the door clearing the top of the foliage and re-shutting in time to properly contain the next plug and plant. For high speed planting, this system precludes the possibility of placing more than two plants per second when planting tall plants.
Traditionally the means of leveling and compressing the soil around a plug has been by means of large diameter steel wheels or a ski. The steel wheels by their nature of rolling resistance have to be of a large diameter to support the weight, and consequently preclude the ability to put a series of machines side by side for close row spacings. Alternatively, a ski is used which is dragged across the surface of the soil, but is prone to relatively rapid wear and it is undesirable to have a ski dragged across muddy fields due to the rolling up of the surface of the soil. This, by its nature precludes the use of the machines on wet days and shortens the time frames that the machine can be used on saturated soils.
In some crops, e.g. lettuce, the accuracy of the top of the plug relative to the top of the soil has a profound impact on the volume and quantity of marketable lettuce heads produced. If the plug is below the soil level two very serious things occur:
1) The soil envelops the lower portion of the lettuce leaves which can cause crown rot, with the consequent loss of the complete plant;
2) If the plant survives the outer leaves of the young lettuce plant are unable to flatten out in a semi horizontal position, but instead are held in a firm angular position. This prevents the subsequent lettuce leaves from obtaining the correct profile to form a largely circular lettuce head, and instead is formed into a looser high crowned oval shape similar to an American or Australian football. A lettuce head formed in this manner is totally unacceptable for commercial usage and is left in the field, mostly as wastage.
A similar effect to that described above, is also caused if the plug and plant are planted on a semi inclined plane, with part of top surface of the plug protruding above the surface, and part of the top surface of the plug buried under the surface of the soil.
Whether it is a machine in which the plants are fed by hand, dropped by cups, or fed by semi automatic or automatic mechanisms, all these plants are affected by the degree of water saturation of the root and soil mass. Also the weight of the plug varies substantially throughout the day due to evaporation, transpiration of moisture in the plugs and the effect of rain showers on the plugs and plants in trays waiting in the field to be transplanted. This weight variation effects the speed of which the plug and plant falls and the inertial effect of the horizontal transfer of the plug from the planting shoe. The size and length of the foliage has a substantial effect on the ability of a plant to remain vertically erect due to inertial forces involved in the movement through the soil, wind resistance on the foliage at the time of rapid vertical and horizontal movement during plant/plug transfer stages, and also any external wind sources.
Traditionally there have been three methods employed to handle plants from their growing containers to the planting position and into the ground.
1) Plants are manually pulled from the container, separated by hand and either manually placed into grippers or dropped down a tube.
2) Plants are manually removed from the growing containers, separated manually and placed into rotating cups which release the plants at the correct position and the plants fall down a tube.
3) Singular plants are mechanically ejected from the container one at a time and dropped down a plant tube.
4) A complete row of plants are mechanically ejected from the containers and into a plug retaining belt which swings away from the containers, separating the row of plants and then indexing forward and dropping one plant at a time into a drop tube.
In all of these approaches it is important to clearly separate the foliage from the plant to be dropped from the remaining stationary plants immediately above, and is a prerequisite to the unhindered proper handling of an individual plug and plant to be accurately placed in the ground.
In the type of planter that transfers an entire row of plants into a plug retaining belt which then swings away, separating the plants to a lower region, and then dispensing the plants one at a time, the speed of the machine in terms of continuous, uninterrupted plants evenly spaced in the field, is determined by the time it takes for the plug retaining belt to swing up, be loaded and return to the planting position. This has been partly addressed in the aforesaid Williames International Patent Application No. PCT/AU97/00893 by dispensing a plant on the conveyor upswing before loading another row of plants.
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