Transplanter

transplanter [tranz′plan·tər]

(agriculture)

A special kind of equipment designed for the planting of cuttings or small plants; it transports one or more workers who assist the action of the machine in placing plants in a furrow and covering them; it commonly supplies a small quantity of water to each plant.

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Transplanter 

a machine used to transplant the seedlings of such crops as vegetables, tobacco, and Indian tobacco. There are mounted and trailer transplanters that can sow in two, four, or six rows. In the USSR only mounted transplanters attached to tractors equipped with reducing gear are used.

The principal working parts of a seedling planter include planting units, which have openers to cut planting furrows; chain or disk devices, which transplant seedlings; and press rollers, which cover the root system and pack plants with soil. A transplanter is equipped with tanks and a water distributor used to water transplanted plants or to spray them with solutions of mineral fertilizers. When used in irrigated areas, transplanters have furrowers attached to the planting units that cut irrigation furrows.

Transplanters plant seedlings in rows or squares. In square planting, a reel with a measuring wire and a mechanism to drive the transplanting devices from the measuring wire are mounted on the planter. In row planting, transplanting devices are driven by a drive wheel.

Transplanters similar in technological design are used outside the USSR.