ISHS Acta Horticulturae 187: I International Symposium on Mechanization of Vegetable Production
AUTOMATED SEEDLING PRODUCTION |
| Author: | H.L. Brewer |
| Abstract:
The value of seedlings in starting many crops is unquestioned. Improvements in the production of seedlings have been steady and impressive. New tools such as electronics and computers hold the promise of even greater achievements in the future. However, unifying principles to guide the efforts in automating seedling production are either non-existent or not widely known. This paper discusses guidelines that have evolved in a cooperative project between ARS and the University of Georgia as we have attempted to develop a system for growing and transplanting seedlings with no substantial hand labour. We start with a minimization principle: give plants only the resources they need at a particular point in their growth. This leads us to the use of free cells for containers. Free cells imply the use of sorters and partitioned operations. Partitioned operations lead to the possibility of better optimization of each operation. The reduction of theory to practice has led us to develop a container system, a sorter, and the beginning of a low profile greenhouse system - all experimental units. Components to be developed are a seedling transport system and an automatic transplanter. The power of simultaneously formulating system principles and developing system components helps us cut off whole lines of inquiry which we jedge to be nonproductive and concentrate on those paths which we believe promise exciting new discoveries. | |
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