In order to reduce a possibility of damaging a seedling in the event of transplant of unit nursery beds when the seedlings are replanted from a seedling tray that supports unit nursery beds individually planted with seedlings germinated from seeds to a hydroponic panel capable of securing a longer seedling-to-seedling distance, a seedling transplanter (1) includes: a seedling tray (3) supported by a frame (2) and configured to support a nursery bed (7) having unit nursery beds (71) separable from each other and arranged in two directions on a plane; a hydroponic panel (4) supported by the frame (2) and provided with holes (41) for storing the unit nursery beds (71), the hydroponic panel (4) serving as a transplant destination of the unit nursery beds (71) on the seedling tray (3); and a holding member (5) supported by the frame (2) pivotally around a vertical axis and vertically movably to separate the unit nursery bed (71) from the nursery bed (7) by holding any one or a plurality of the unit nursery beds (71) on the seedling tray (3) arranged in the outermost side of the nursery bed (7) from a lateral face side of the unit nursery bed (71) in a width direction of the unit nursery bed (71), insert the unit nursery bed (71) into the hole (41) of the hydroponic panel (4), and release the unit nursery bed (71).

There is provided a pick-and-plant head for planting plant cuttings in a cultivation medium. The pick-and-plant head is provided with a grasper comprising opposed grasping surfaces for grasping a portion of a cutting between them and with an abutment that abuts a cutting. The grasper and abutment are moveable relative to one another and are arranged so that during release of a cutting from the grasper the abutment passes between the opposed grasping surfaces and the cutting is abutted by the abutment.

A container, such as a pot, strip or tray, comprising at least one accommodation for at least one specimen from a group, comprising: plants; seeds; seedlings; cuttings and the like, where the accommodation is configured to be filled with a substrate and the container exhibits at least a side wall, a bottom and a top surface to accommodate the substrate and the specimen in the substrate, of which at least a portion of the top surface is open to enable growth of the specimen there through in a longitudinal direction. The side wall includes a completely open passage which is dimensioned for inserting or extracting a block of substrate with essentially a full size of an interior of the accommodation into or from the interior through the passage in a sideways direction relative to the longitudinal direction, where at least the side wall includes a cutting edge alongside the passage.

A pick-and-plant head for planting plant cuttings in a cultivation medium. The pick-and-plant head is provided with a grasper including opposed grasping surfaces for grasping a portion of a cutting between them and with an abutment that abuts a cutting. The grasper and abutment are moveable relative to one another and are arranged so that during release of a cutting from the grasper the abutment passes between the opposed grasping surfaces and the cutting is abutted by the abutment.

Automated, metrically controlled methods and systems of cultivating plants to maximize customer order fulfillment can dynamically take into consideration growing conditions and environments of transplant propagules, plants, and seedlings and even changeable order requirements. Through an appropriately configured programmable plant growth configured computer system, computer logic determined optimization of transplanting times, growth conditions, planting needs, and transplant propagule quantities, among other aspects, may be met more efficiently, with less waste at closer to one hundred percent. Programmable plant growth configured computer systems may be configured with a multi-cycle replacement tray maximization metric programs, and/or a multi growth stage parameterized metrics to achieve processes that are mare than just automated, but are fundamentally more than and different from previous systems. Automatic metric controls can simultaneously and differentially control donor tray growth environments apart from customer tray environments as automatically provided for by a program implemented to utilize multi-cycle replacement tray or multi growth stage parameterized metrics to sequence and achieve outcomes not previously available. Optimization of transplanting to customer plant trays and use and disposal of donor trays may optimize the economics by reducing waste through new processes that are fundamentally different and dynamically adaptable in real time from those manually conducted. Through transplanting optimization customer yields and producer efficiencies may be maximized.

The present invention relates to the technical field of planting, in particular to a cup-loading device for planting cups, which includes a profile bracket, a horizontal driving mechanism, a pressing mechanism and a planting cup grasping mechanism fixed at an output end of the pressing mechanism, wherein the horizontal driving mechanism and the pressing mechanism are disposed on the profile bracket, an output end of the horizontal driving mechanism is connected to the pressing mechanism so that the pressing mechanism move horizontally along the profile bracket, and the planting cup grasping mechanism includes a plurality of mechanical clamping jaws and a guide device for adjusting a spacing between adjacent mechanical clamping jaws. In the prevent invention, the pressing mechanism moves to the arranged planting cups through the horizontal driving mechanism, the planting cup grasping mechanism is pushed downward by the pressing mechanism to touch the planting cup, to realize automatic grasping of the planting cups, and then the planting cups are arranged at equal distances according to the requirements through the guide device on the planting cup grasping mechanism, and then accurately fill in the planting plate through the pressing mechanism, so that the cups can be steadily clamped and accurately placed on the planting plate with equal intervals.

A selective transplanter is provided for transplanting seedlings from a tray to seedling planting apparatus. The tray includes a plurality of cells for holding plugs of growing medium containing seedlings. The transplanter is arranged to eject plugs from the cells of the tray to a conveyor which conveys the plugs to the seedling planting apparatus. The transplanter is arranged to remove plugs that do not contain germinated seedlings from the conveyor at a removal position before they are transferred to the seedling planting apparatus. A seedling retention roller engages with plant material of the seedlings projecting from the plugs at the removal position before the plugs are transferred to the seedling planting apparatus, preventing removal of plugs containing seedlings with projecting plant material. The transplanter provides the advantage that the plugs containing seedlings can be planted in rows in a field without dud plugs being planted, leaving the rows substantially gap free.

One variation of a method for automating transfer of plants within an agricultural facility includes: dispatching a loader to autonomously deliver a first module—defining a first array of plant slots at a first density and loaded with a first set of plants at a first growth stage—from a first grow location within an agricultural facility to a transfer station within the agricultural facility; dispatching the loader to autonomously deliver a second module—defining a second array of plant slots at a second density less than the first density and empty of plants—to the transfer station; recording a module-level optical scan of the first module; extracting a viability parameter of the first set of plants from features detected in the module-level optical scan; and if the viability parameter falls outside of a target viability range, rejecting transfer of the first set of plants from the first module.

Techniques and systems are used to operate a fully automated vertical greenhouse for low-cost and sustainable production of local produce. The system includes robotic configurations that seed, propagate, transplant, water, and harvest plants, such as leafy greens and herbs, autonomously without direct human intervention. The system may manage and control a process for sprouting seeds, which is the beginning of a plant life cycle and is initiated by first watering. The system may manage and control a process for moving plants from sprouting growing conditions to adult growing conditions, which further include delivery of nutrient rich water to the adult plants. The system may also manage and control a process for gathering and sorting of mature plants (e.g., crops), which may be automatically prepared and sorted for delivery to retail locations.

There is provided a pick-and-plant head for planting plant cuttings in a cultivation medium. The pick-and-plant head is provided with a grasper comprising opposed grasping surfaces for grasping a portion of a cutting between them and with an abutment that abuts a cutting. The grasper and abutment are moveable relative to one another and are arranged so that during release of a cutting from the grasper the abutment passes between the opposed grasping surfaces and the cutting is abutted by the abutment.