Background
Soil preparation and planting activities are critical re-establishment operations that must be conducted properly to facilitate the survival and growth of trees. The demand for mechanical planting machines has grown over the past decade and a half due to labour shortages, large-scale regeneration expansion, and the need to control the quality of operations. Novelquip has been involved in manufacturing soil preparation and planting equipment since 2007. Their equipment employs the spot pit cultivation method, which results in minimal site disturbance.
PP1 planting machine testing
The PP1 is a machine which can prepare the soil (pit), plant, and irrigate in one pass. It uses a T-slide mechanism, which enables the pitting and planting head functionalities to be executed consecutively. The pitting uses Novelquip’s proven and versatile pitting heads, of which the auger bit can be adapted to various soil conditions to optimise the pit preparation. The planting device carries a plant, irrigates, and firms the seedling once it is planted in the pit. The planting unit can be attached to an excavator-based machine (5.5 tons), which makes it more cost-effective to mechanise planting operations for small landowners and contractors. The PP1 will have the option to incorporate a GPS unit for recording and tracking seedlings that have been planted. The PP1 planting machine has been undergoing tests and will soon be fully launched to the market. Details about machine specifications, productivity and planting quality will be shared once the testing phase has been completed.
For more information, visit:
