A soil bed covering and planting apparatus is adapted to be carried along the length of a soil bed by a conveyer vehicle and includes a cover material reel configured to retain and supply a sheet of cover material, and a compaction roller configured to feed cover material over a soil bed and to press the cover material onto the soil bed. Two spike hammers are positioned adjacent to and at opposite sides of the compaction roller, each being configured to drive at least one spike through the cover material into the soil bed. An actuation structure is associated with each spike hammer and urges the spike hammer against a spike. A piercing assembly forms a series of holes in the sheet of cover material and engages with a drive structure that reciprocates the piercing assembly to drive one end of the piercing assembly through the sheet of cover material.

Methods, systems and apparatuses for applying a sheet of film material to the ground by utilizing first and second double disk openers to create first and second grooves in the ground and inserting the sheet into the grooves by use of a pair of press wheels which travel behind the disk openers and force the sheet into the grooves. Use of the disk openers accommodates a method of applying the sheet to planted seeds in non-tilled, frozen and/or near frozen soil conditions for increased crop yields.

A conversion is provided to adapt a salt truck spreading apparatus to a mulch blowing delivery system by replacing a centrifugal spreader with an air lock and blower while providing means to address clogs in the feeding of mulch.

A mulch cutting and spreading machine is a machine that is designed to be able to suction mulch out of the bed of a vehicle that is towing the mulch cutting and spreading machine and to simultaneously suction and chop the mulch and discharge it through a discharge hose that is directed by the user. The mulch or other such material can be then blown or spread over an area quickly in one combined action.

A system and method for extracting and densifying agricultural plastic from a crop bed includes a mower configured to cut plant material on a crop bed. The mower includes a frame, and a brush and blade attached to the frame. The brush is preferably configured to sweep plant material along the edge of the crop bed into the path of the blade. The system further includes an extractor system having an extractor head assembly for lifting the agricultural plastic from the crop bed after mowing is completed. Embodiments of the extractor system may include a frame, a roller rotatably attached to the frame, and an extractor head assembly positioned rearward of the roller. Agricultural plastic engaged by the extractor head assembly is pulled over the roller. The system may include a winding device configured to densify the agricultural plastic after it has been extracted and lifted off the bed.

A mulch cutting and spreading machine is a machine that is designed to be able to suction mulch out of the bed of a vehicle that is towing the mulch cutting and spreading machine and to simultaneously suction and chop the mulch and discharge it through a discharge hose that is directed by the user. The mulch or other such material can be then blown or spread over an area quickly in one combined action.

An automatic detection and recovery device for residual agricultural mulch film, and a method of using the device, comprising a quadcopter, a wheeled robot (9), and a host computer (8); the quadcopter is provided with a controller (1), a near infrared water content analyzer, and a WiFi module that are used to measure water content in soil and communicate with the host computer; the wheeled robot (9) comprises a water sprinkling device (2), a soil grabbing device (3), a sifting device (4), a delivery device (5), a recognition device (6), and a sorting device (7).

A material discharge system having at least one rotating member disposed within at least one chamber of a holding container. Each rotating member has a central hub with a plurality of arms that extend radially and transversely away from the central hub. The holding container has at least one discharge chamber.

A soil conditioner spreader and an operation method thereof are provided. The soil conditioner spreader includes a spreader body, a ridger, a solid tank, two spiral drills, a rotary tillage wheel and a mulching device, where the spreader body is provided with a hopper in a front part. The hopper stores a conditioner. The solid tank is arranged above the spiral drills. The spreader body is connected to the solid tank through a feeding track. The ridger, the spiral rills, the rotary tillage wheel and the mulching device are successively arranged at the bottom of the spreader body from the rear to the front. The ridger ridges first, and then the spiral drills perform deep plowing, rotary tillage and scarification and apply the conditioner to a ridge. The rotary tillage wheel performs rotary tillage, and a nozzle sprays a nutrient solution or an herbicide/insecticide. Finally, the mulching device mulches.

Implementations set forth herein relate to using fiducial markings on one or more localized portions of an agricultural apparatus in order to generate local and regional data that can be correlated for planning and executing agricultural maintenance. An array of fiducial markings can be disposed onto plastic mulch that surrounds individual crops, in order that each fiducial marking of the array can operate as a signature for each individual crop. Crop data, such as health and yield, corresponding to a particular crop can then be stored in association with a corresponding fiducial marking, thereby allowing the certain data for the particular crop to be tracked and analyzed. Furthermore, autonomous agricultural devices can rely on the crop data, over other sources of data, such as GPS satellites, thereby allowing the autonomous agricultural devices to be more reliable.