•
TRANSPLANTERS
•
THE
VEGETABLE
FARMER •
MARCH 2017
the rotors on
the current
Rotostrapp
system.
Unlike the old
system that
works with a
14cm-wide
digging share,
Fast Block works
with a 7cm
sharemounted
on a floating
element, which
not only moves
less soil, but has
also allowed the
minimum row distance to be
reduced from 29cm to 23cm.
Working speeds are around
2.5km/hr (depending on the
plant spacing), and hourly rates
per planting unit vary up to a
maximum of 7,500 plants/hour.
Triple bed units will be delivered
to some UK growers during the
next fewmonths. A self-
propelled version of the Fast
Block is also available.
Standen Reflex is the UK and
Ireland importer for the semi-
automatic block transplanters
made by French firm Regero, the
current most popular model
being the high capacity
pneumatic machines, which have
the capacity to plant 7,000+
blocks per row per hour. The
company also imports the Italian-
made Fedelemachines, a range
recently bolstered by the new
Fast transplanters, featuring the
Fast Basic, Fast BasicM (two
simple to use transplanters), and
themore sophisticated Fast
Electronic.
The latter uses an electronic
system to change the plant
spacing in the row, which is
claimed to significantly speed up
and simplify the operation. The
display also enables users to see
the number of hours worked and
the number of transplanted
plants per hour. Available with
any number of plantingmodules
from 1 to 12, distance in the row
starts from aminimum of 5cm.
Spacing between the rows is a
minimum of 25cm.
Equippedwith parallelograms,
rotating plant-holders and rubber
flex wheels, options include
pesticide and fertiliser hoppers,
electronic control and
management, row-marker (also
hydraulic), front furrower, folding
frame or hydraulic sliding.
Edwards FarmMachinery has
been the UK distributor for the
Italian-made Checcli &Magli
vegetable transplanters for the
past 34 years. Able to supply
machines for plantingmodules,
bare rooted plants and planting
through plastic film, while there
are no newmodels for this
season, the British company is
always manufacturing frames and
altering specifications to suit
customer requirements.
The current range of
transplanters includes the semi-
automaticWolf and Fox, and the
Trium (Total Control) module
planter, which is fittedwith a
ten-cup rotating
distributor and
is suitable for
plants with very
developed
leaves, such as
cabbage.
The Top 24
allows one
operator to
plant two rows
to 60-120cm
rowwidths
(capacity up to
65,000
plants/hour),
while the Dual 12 Gold allows
one operator to feed two rows
by releasing alternate plants from
each unit. The company says this
alsomeans that the plants can
be staggeredmuch easier –
therefore allowing themaximum
light for plant growth. The
technique also enables closer
row-to-row spacings.
Customer requests were behind
the development of the 4SP four-
row transplanter fromwell-
known Belgian firm Agriplant.
Designed and developed in-
house, the result is not only
suitable for brassicas, such as
white and red cabbage, brussels
sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli,
but also able to plant sweet
potatoes and celery.
Company engineers returned to
the drawing board to re-design
the robot tomake it suitable for
planting four rows at a time and
ensure themachine’s overall
width remainedwithin 3m. Their
efforts have resulted in four
lighter, more compact and
patented high-tech robots (two
side by side and two above).
Once the robots have selected
plants from the tray, the selector
32
CleeHill Road,TenburyWells,
WorcsWR158HL
Tel: 01584810713 •
Fax: 01584811124
Mob: 07836363416
Email:
•
Website:www.edwardsfarmmachinery.com
01R66B
SEEUSATLAMMAHALL9STAND910
il:
m • Website: ww.edwardsfarmmachinery.com
Bed Formers, Seed Drills, Transplanters,
Inter Row Cultivators, Plastic Layers.
Contact us for all your vegetable machinery needs.
Offered in the UK and Ireland through Standen Reflex,
high capacity pneumatic machines are currently themost
popular from French firm Regero.
Made by Italian firm Fedele, the Fast Electronic – brought
into the UK by Standen Reflex – uses an electronic
system to change the plant spacing.
A couple of five-row Checchi &Magli Trium planters, sold in the UK by
distributor Edwards FarmMachinery.
