Development of Automatic Transplanter for Plug Seedling

Transplanting is one of the most important operations during vegetable and flower production. Because of the higher labor intensity and lower efficiency for the operation by hand, it is difficult to enlarge production scale. So, it has become an urgent task to achieve automation of plug seedling transplanting for Chinese horticulture industry. In this paper, on the basis of knowing the development of transplanting technology and transplanter both domestic and abroad, a simple, practical and automatic transplanter for plug seedling, including manipulator, conveyor system for plug tray and flowerpots, overall structure and control system based on PLC was designed. Finally, Prototype was manufactured and performance tests were conducted. Results showed that the automatic transplanter had reliable transplanting performance.