• Latest
  • Trending
PlantTape product promises growers a streamlined start

PlantTape product promises growers a streamlined start

May 6, 2022
High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

May 30, 2025
Swiss Cherry Harvest 2024: High Yields, Better Quality, and Market Challenges

Swiss Cherry Harvest 2024: High Yields, Better Quality, and Market Challenges

May 30, 2025
Asparagus Market Trends April 2025: Prices Drop as Austrian Season Returns to Normal Timing

Asparagus Market Trends April 2025: Prices Drop as Austrian Season Returns to Normal Timing

May 30, 2025
Garlic Prices Dip, Onion Prices Surge: What Spanish Farmers and Agribusinesses Need to Know in 2025

Garlic Prices Dip, Onion Prices Surge: What Spanish Farmers and Agribusinesses Need to Know in 2025

May 29, 2025
EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

May 29, 2025
Garlic from Córdoba Defies Challenges: Higher Yields Expected Despite Water Scarcity and Reduced Acreage

Garlic from Córdoba Defies Challenges: Higher Yields Expected Despite Water Scarcity and Reduced Acreage

May 29, 2025
Russian Cucumbers Flood Poland: A Growing Concern for EU Agriculture

Russian Cucumbers Flood Poland: A Growing Concern for EU Agriculture

May 28, 2025
15 High-Performance Organic Vegetable Varieties for Year-Round Success – Backed by Science

15 High-Performance Organic Vegetable Varieties for Year-Round Success – Backed by Science

May 28, 2025
Tomatoes Dominate Almería’s Greenhouses: Trends, Yields, and Market Insights for 2024

Tomatoes Dominate Almería’s Greenhouses: Trends, Yields, and Market Insights for 2024

May 28, 2025
Strawberries Dominate April 2025 Wholesale Markets: Trends, Prices, and Future Outlook

Strawberries Dominate April 2025 Wholesale Markets: Trends, Prices, and Future Outlook

May 27, 2025
Honduras Pineapple Exports Decline: What’s Behind the Drop and How Can Farmers Adapt?

Honduras Pineapple Exports Decline: What’s Behind the Drop and How Can Farmers Adapt?

May 27, 2025
Why Do Grocers Cover Potatoes at Night? The Science Behind This Curious Practice

Why Do Grocers Cover Potatoes at Night? The Science Behind This Curious Practice

May 27, 2025
  • Company
Saturday, May 31, 2025
Vegetables News
  • NEWS
    High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

    High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

    Swiss Cherry Harvest 2024: High Yields, Better Quality, and Market Challenges

    Swiss Cherry Harvest 2024: High Yields, Better Quality, and Market Challenges

    Asparagus Market Trends April 2025: Prices Drop as Austrian Season Returns to Normal Timing

    Asparagus Market Trends April 2025: Prices Drop as Austrian Season Returns to Normal Timing

    Garlic Prices Dip, Onion Prices Surge: What Spanish Farmers and Agribusinesses Need to Know in 2025

    Garlic Prices Dip, Onion Prices Surge: What Spanish Farmers and Agribusinesses Need to Know in 2025

    EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

    EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

    Garlic from Córdoba Defies Challenges: Higher Yields Expected Despite Water Scarcity and Reduced Acreage

    Garlic from Córdoba Defies Challenges: Higher Yields Expected Despite Water Scarcity and Reduced Acreage

    Russian Cucumbers Flood Poland: A Growing Concern for EU Agriculture

    Russian Cucumbers Flood Poland: A Growing Concern for EU Agriculture

    15 High-Performance Organic Vegetable Varieties for Year-Round Success – Backed by Science

    15 High-Performance Organic Vegetable Varieties for Year-Round Success – Backed by Science

    Tomatoes Dominate Almería’s Greenhouses: Trends, Yields, and Market Insights for 2024

    Tomatoes Dominate Almería’s Greenhouses: Trends, Yields, and Market Insights for 2024

  • AGROTECHNOLOGY
    • All
    • Climate
    • Crop protection
    • digital (smart)
    • dron
    • Fertilizer
    • Research
    • weed
    High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

    High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

    EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

    EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

    Why Do Grocers Cover Potatoes at Night? The Science Behind This Curious Practice

    Why Do Grocers Cover Potatoes at Night? The Science Behind This Curious Practice

    Record-Early Potato Planting in 2024: Will It Lead to Higher Yields?

    Record-Early Potato Planting in 2024: Will It Lead to Higher Yields?

    Boosting Farm Efficiency: How Lean Technologies Are Transforming Agriculture in Altai

    Boosting Farm Efficiency: How Lean Technologies Are Transforming Agriculture in Altai

    Rising Temperatures Threaten Vegetable Farming in Maharashtra: Challenges and Solutions for Farmers

    Rising Temperatures Threaten Vegetable Farming in Maharashtra: Challenges and Solutions for Farmers

    Boosting Welsh Agriculture: How Organic School Meals Could Transform Farming by 2030

    Boosting Welsh Agriculture: How Organic School Meals Could Transform Farming by 2030

    Farming in Small Spaces: How Bandanaira Prison Is Growing Food and Futures with Polybag Vegetable Cultivation

    Farming in Small Spaces: How Bandanaira Prison Is Growing Food and Futures with Polybag Vegetable Cultivation

    Can Regenerative Agriculture Work for Intensive Vegetable Farming? One Farm’s Journey Toward a Greener Future

    Can Regenerative Agriculture Work for Intensive Vegetable Farming? One Farm’s Journey Toward a Greener Future

  • IRRIGATION
  • SEED PRODUCTION
    • Vegetables
    • Fruit
  • PROCESSING
No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

    High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

    Swiss Cherry Harvest 2024: High Yields, Better Quality, and Market Challenges

    Swiss Cherry Harvest 2024: High Yields, Better Quality, and Market Challenges

    Asparagus Market Trends April 2025: Prices Drop as Austrian Season Returns to Normal Timing

    Asparagus Market Trends April 2025: Prices Drop as Austrian Season Returns to Normal Timing

    Garlic Prices Dip, Onion Prices Surge: What Spanish Farmers and Agribusinesses Need to Know in 2025

    Garlic Prices Dip, Onion Prices Surge: What Spanish Farmers and Agribusinesses Need to Know in 2025

    EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

    EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

    Garlic from Córdoba Defies Challenges: Higher Yields Expected Despite Water Scarcity and Reduced Acreage

    Garlic from Córdoba Defies Challenges: Higher Yields Expected Despite Water Scarcity and Reduced Acreage

    Russian Cucumbers Flood Poland: A Growing Concern for EU Agriculture

    Russian Cucumbers Flood Poland: A Growing Concern for EU Agriculture

    15 High-Performance Organic Vegetable Varieties for Year-Round Success – Backed by Science

    15 High-Performance Organic Vegetable Varieties for Year-Round Success – Backed by Science

    Tomatoes Dominate Almería’s Greenhouses: Trends, Yields, and Market Insights for 2024

    Tomatoes Dominate Almería’s Greenhouses: Trends, Yields, and Market Insights for 2024

  • AGROTECHNOLOGY
    • All
    • Climate
    • Crop protection
    • digital (smart)
    • dron
    • Fertilizer
    • Research
    • weed
    High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

    High-Residue Cover Cropping: A Viable Alternative to Plastic Mulch for Organic Vegetable Growers?

    EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

    EU Pesticide Sales Hit 12-Year Low in 2023: What It Means for Modern Agriculture

    Why Do Grocers Cover Potatoes at Night? The Science Behind This Curious Practice

    Why Do Grocers Cover Potatoes at Night? The Science Behind This Curious Practice

    Record-Early Potato Planting in 2024: Will It Lead to Higher Yields?

    Record-Early Potato Planting in 2024: Will It Lead to Higher Yields?

    Boosting Farm Efficiency: How Lean Technologies Are Transforming Agriculture in Altai

    Boosting Farm Efficiency: How Lean Technologies Are Transforming Agriculture in Altai

    Rising Temperatures Threaten Vegetable Farming in Maharashtra: Challenges and Solutions for Farmers

    Rising Temperatures Threaten Vegetable Farming in Maharashtra: Challenges and Solutions for Farmers

    Boosting Welsh Agriculture: How Organic School Meals Could Transform Farming by 2030

    Boosting Welsh Agriculture: How Organic School Meals Could Transform Farming by 2030

    Farming in Small Spaces: How Bandanaira Prison Is Growing Food and Futures with Polybag Vegetable Cultivation

    Farming in Small Spaces: How Bandanaira Prison Is Growing Food and Futures with Polybag Vegetable Cultivation

    Can Regenerative Agriculture Work for Intensive Vegetable Farming? One Farm’s Journey Toward a Greener Future

    Can Regenerative Agriculture Work for Intensive Vegetable Farming? One Farm’s Journey Toward a Greener Future

  • IRRIGATION
  • SEED PRODUCTION
    • Vegetables
    • Fruit
  • PROCESSING
No Result
View All Result
Vegetables News
Home AGROTECHNOLOGY

PlantTape product promises growers a streamlined start

by Tatyana Ivanovich
May 6, 2022
in AGROTECHNOLOGY
0
PlantTape product promises growers a streamlined start

A belt-fed mechanical system called PlantTape promises to reduce labor costs and save time during field planting.

The industry standard is rotary or carousel-style transplanters. But many small vegetable growers are also familiar with non-motorized, single-row mechanical planters fed by a system of paper pots, where transplants are grown in individual paper containers resting in a larger plastic tray. Connected by a paper strand, the individual paper containers peel away one at a time for mechanical planting in a single row.

PlantTape planters can be set up to plant as many as eight rows at a time, with a maximum total width of 84 inches. Photos: PlantTape

The PlantTape machine adds to that concept a power drive that can handle as many as eight planting rows at a time. Multiple trays can be staged for each row, too – strands of PlantTape from separate flats are strung together with biodegradable clips. The machine features a separate mechanical module for each row, and each module hangs close to the ground and plants in rapid fire.

“What we call the module is kind of the heart” of the machine, said PlantTape President Brian Antle. “It mimics a belt-fed machine-gun.”

The machine can hold 60 trays at a time, and each tray holds 810 plants. The spacing of the rows also is adjustable, and the total width of the machine plantings can vary from 60 to 84 inches.

In this fashion, a three-person crew – a tractor driver and two machine attendants – can plant 1.5 to 2 acres in an hour, Antle said. To match that pace using current methods, a grower would need two traditional planters with about 30 people, he said.

The PlantTape machine attaches to a tractor in a three-point system and is powered by the tractor’s hydraulic drive. Antle said the machine works well with a John Deere 6150 series tractor, and can be used to plant a wide variety of crops.

Transplants are machine-seeded in paper pots with vermiculite and peat moss, and raised in nurseries prior to being replanted.

“As long as the seed can fit inside of the tape, you can grow damn near anything,” he said. “We’ve done some tomatoes, tobacco, melons, sugar beets, onions, leeks, bell peppers – we’ve done pretty much anything anyone’s ever thought of,” he said.

He added, though, that much of the current interest seems to be coming from western vegetable growers.

The technology was originally developed in Spain during the early 2000s, Antle said. It was acquired by Tanimura & Antle in 2014 for development in the United States.

Scott Rossi, who is the director of the internal farm at Tanimura & Antle, has been working with the machines for four years. He said that growers using switching from seed planting to transplants for the first time will have to adjust their patterns of sprays, water, fertilizer and bed prep – and closely watch the transplants once they’re in.

“You have to be open-minded,” he said. “You have to be willing to change.”

The group maintains a location in Spain, and this year, the group started commercial sales in North America. It’s also being used on a trial basis in Australia during 2018.

“We’re now selling machines and plants throughout North America,” he said. “There’s 25 being built right now and they’re all spoken for. Now it’s just a matter of building them quick enough to meet the demand.”

Antle said there’s roughly a six-week build time. The modules are manufactured in Spain, and the entire machine, including the chassis, is assembled in Oregon.

The machine costs from $100,000 to $200,000 depending on the number of modules in the machine – the number of rows the grower wants to plant. Machines run an average of $165,000, he said.

Another cost is the transplants themselves. A sowing device plants seeds and vermiculite into each pocket of the strand of tape, and then they must germinate and sprout, typically in a nursery setting.

“Currently, we’re selling the transplants just because we’re the only ones with the sowing line,” he said. Antle said the sowing line machines also are for sale; however, he declined to discuss pricing for those machines.

He said that so far, the reaction from growers has been strong.

“I think people are seeing this as the future,” he said. Paper pot systems like PlantTape make it easier to plant a wider variety of transplants. “Lettuce crops, you haven’t been able to grow from transplant very well because you can’t get the right root structure.”

PlantTape is also attractive to growers because of the reduced dependency on labor, Antle said.

“I don’t think anybody’s holding their breath to see the labor situation get any better.”

– Stephen Kloosterman, Assistant Editor

Above: Transplants are automatically planted in multiple rows by the PlantTape system. Photos: Brian Antle

Tags: PlantTape
Previous Post

Teralytic debuts wireless sensor of soil conditions

Next Post

Radicle Automation Challenge supported by Western Growers

Next Post

Radicle Automation Challenge supported by Western Growers

  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Policy of vegetables.news app

© 2020-2024 VEGETABLES NEWS

No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
  • AGROTECHNOLOGY
  • IRRIGATION
  • SEED PRODUCTION
    • Vegetables
    • Fruit
  • PROCESSING

© 2020-2024 VEGETABLES NEWS