A planting apparatus of nursery tree includes an auger, a guide member having a hollow tube shape, a blade member, sliders, and motors The auger, the guide member and the blade member form the nested structure of the three-layer which are centered upon the auger, and the auger and the blade member are rotation members rotating on the same vertical axis line. By such a constitution, desired planting hole can easily be excavated, and the ground around the excavated hole and a root clump of the nursery tree can be leveled, covered and pressed by the blade member without forming a gap while holding the nursery tree by the guide member not to be inclined.

A method for tracking seeds in an assembly line grow pod having a plurality of carts is provided. A target seed is deposited in a selected cell which is a part of a selected tray located in a selected cart travelling on an assembly line grow pod. A position of the target seed is tracked in the selected cell by determining the position of the target seed in the selected cart and determining a position of the selected cart in the assembly line grow pod. Sustenance is provided to the target seed including the selected cell. A growth factor of the target seed is determined in the selected cell. Upon determination that the growth factor of the target seed in the selected cell is below a predetermined threshold, supply of the sustenance provided to the selected cell is adjusted.

A system for bypassing harvesting in an assembly line grow pod is provided. The system includes a track, a cart configured to move on the track, the cart including an upper plate configured to support a plant, one or more sensors and a controller. The controller includes one or more processors, one or more memory modules, and machine readable instructions stored in the one or more memory modules that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the controller to receive information about the plant from the one or more sensors, determine whether the plant in the cart is ready to harvest based on the information; and transmit an instruction for bypassing harvesting the plant in the cart in response to determination that the plant in the cart is not ready to harvest.

A method for pressurizing an assembly line grow pod system is provided. The method includes arranging a dual wall including an outer wall and an inner wall, controlling, with an air pressure controller, first air pressure in the first sealed area and second air pressure in the second sealed area, and controlling, with a master controller, operations of the air pressure controller. The first air pressure of the first sealed area is controlled to be higher than pressure of an exterior area to the outer wall by a predetermined amount.

Devices, systems, and methods for providing and operating crop control hardware are provided herein. Some embodiments include an assembly line grow pod having a master controller with a plurality of bays and being communicatively coupled to components of the grow pod, a crop control module within one of the bays such that the crop control module is communicatively coupled to the master controller and the components of the grow pod, and a second control module in one of the bays, which is removably insertable such that it is removable from the bay without altering the assembly line grow pod functionality. The crop control module is programmed to sense a removal of the second control module, determine control signals necessary to maintain an operation of the grow pod and the components of the grow pod, and provide the control signals to the grow pod or the components of the grow pod.

An assembly line grow pod includes a seeding region, a harvesting region, a track that extends between the seeding region and the harvesting region, a cart including a tray for holding plant matter, and a wheel coupled to the tray, where the wheel is engaged with the track, and a weight sensor positioned on the cart or the track, where the weight sensor is positioned to detect a weight of the plant matter positioned within the cart.

A distributed control system for use in an assembly line grow pod includes a master controller and a hardware controller device. The master controller includes a first processor and a first memory for storing a first set of instructions that dictates plant growing operations and a second set of instructions that dictates a plurality of distributed control functions. The hardware controller device is coupled to the master controller via a plug-in network interface. The hardware controller device includes a second processor and a second memory for storing a third set of instructions that dictate a selected control function of the plurality of distributed control functions. Upon the plug-in connection, the master controller identifies an address of the hardware controller device and sends a set of parameters defining a plurality of tasks relating to the selected control function.

Devices, systems, and methods for providing a predetermined amount of fluid in an assembly line grow pod are provided. Some embodiments include an assembly line grow pod including a tray held by a cart supported on a track, the tray including at least one section. The assembly line grow pod further includes a fluid source and a watering station. The watering station includes a robot device having a movable arm and at least one peristaltic pump coupled to the arm, the peristaltic pump having an inlet and an outlet, the inlet fluidly coupled to the fluid source. A predetermined amount of fluid from the fluid source is delivered to the at least one section of the tray via movement of the movable arm of the robot device to align the outlet of the peristaltic pump with the at least one section and via ejection of the fluid from the outlet.

Systems and methods for determining harvest timing for a cart within an assembly line grow pod include identifying a type of the plant matter positioned within a cart, detecting at least one of a plant matter weight of the plant matter with a weight sensor, a plant matter height of the plant matter with a distance sensor, and a chlorophyll level of the plant matter with a camera, determining that the at least one of the detected plant matter weight, the detected plant matter height, and the detected chlorophyll level satisfies a harvest time parameters, and in response to determining that the detected plant matter weight, the detected plant matter height, and the detected chlorophyll level satisfy the harvest time parameters, directing the cart to a harvester system.

An assembly line grow system for measuring growth of a plant, includes a rail system, carts moving along the rail system and carrying plants, seeds, or both, weight sensors, a proximity sensor, a camera and a master controller. The master controller is communicatively coupled to the carts, the weight sensors, the proximity sensor, and the camera. The master controller is operable to receive information from the weight sensors, the proximity sensor, and the camera, determine a growth state of a selected plant based on the information indicative of weight, color, height, or a combination thereof, and control a dosage supply component to provide a modified dosage based on the growth state.