We transplanted a lot of brassicas last Thursday (April 7). It was a long day, and yet we are not done with all the brassicas (cabbages, broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, collards). At Clagett Farm we use a tractor that slowly drags an old transplanter. Here is how it works.
The tractor driver, Megan Caine in the photo above, slowly moves the tractor forward making sure it stays on track, while the setters sitting on the transplanter, Joe Brown and Kathleen Davis, pick up seedlings from the boxes in front of them and alternate in placing them into a carouseling mechanism. The transplanter makes a furrow, sets the seedlings in the soil (spacing them at the proper interval in the row), gives each plant a shot of water, and repacks the soil around the roots of each plant. All that when it works fine. The transplanter we have is old and variations in the soil and the slope of the terrain can affect it. That's when the person walking behind the transplanter (in the photo, Kenji Warren) springs into action and makes sure that all seedlings are properly set. Transplanting involves team effort and we try to be fair to each other, so from time to time team members switch to a different task.
It's Carrie Vaughn's turn to drive now. The barrel on the right side of the tractor is connected to the transplanter by a hose, which permits the seedlings to get a measure of water at the moment they are placed in the soil.
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