M. J. Lawrence, D. R. Buckmaster, W. J. Lamont, Jr.
Pennsylvania State University
249 Agricultural Engineering Building, University Park, PA 16823

Abstract. A machine capable of placing planting holes for a wide variety of spacings in plastic mulch beds with very little physical reconfiguration was designed and tested. The machine was demonstrated with two horticultural crops which have widely varying within-row and between-row spacing requirements: onions and potatoes. The piercing mechanisms were powered by pneumatic cylinders, and the on-board controls allowed users to adjust the number and spacing of holes. Switches enabled between-row spacing to vary by placing from one to four planting holes across a standard 76cm (30in) bed. For the algorithm used, a dial was set to create the within-row spacing between 15cm (6in) and 61cm (24in). These control settings and a fixed tractor speed acted as inputs to a microprocessor which calculated hole placement frequency and initiated cylinder activation. The machine has been in use for two planting seasons with promising results. Hole placement accuracy data was collected for both onions and potatoes. The potato tests were performed with an in-row spacing of 30cm (12in) and produced 96% of the planting holes within ±10% of the target spacing distance. The onion tests were performed with an in-row plant spacing of 15cm (6in) and produced 98% of the planting holes within ±10% of the target spacing distance. The technology used for this research is readily available to vegetable crop farmers and is a viable option to accomplish numerous different planting configurations with very little reconfiguration of machine components.

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