"Water Wheel" Planting System

"Water Wheel" Planting System PLANTERS Planters 26-1-12 "It used to take two weeks to plant 12,000 plants. Now we do the same work in about seven hours," says Dave Langman, Oro Station, Ontario, who built a "water wheel" planter that's designed to plant into a layer of plastic mulch. "I built it mostly from salvaged materials. My total cost was only about $500. Comparable commercial machines sell for $3,000 to $4,000," says Langman. The two-wheeled machine is equipped with a 250-gal. tank that feeds water to a 24-in. dia. steel wheel on back fitted with points that poke through plastic. The wheel is partially open on one side. Water is gravity-fed through a plastic hose into the open side. The points, spaced about 1 ft. apart, poke holes in the plastic for plants and deposit about one cup of water per hole. The planter is equipped with two seats, one on each side of the wheel. One person separates the plant rootballs and hands them to the other person, who pushes the plant into the hole in the plastic. A valve at the wheel is used to control the flow of water. "This machine can be used to plant virtually any plant with a solid root ball. I use it to plant an herb called echinacea. We had been planting through the plastic by hand, without adding water," says Langman. "We built a holding rack on top of the tank for plants, where we can store up to six trays." Langman had previously built his own plastic mulch layer using the frame of an old field cultivator. It rides on two spare car tires with a couple of closing discs behind. The machine lays a strip of plastic in a pre-made furrow and covers the edges with soil to hold in moisture and keep out weeds. The furrow is formed by two metal shovels mounted just ahead of the tires. Both machines are for sale. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dave Langman, Rt. 2, Oro Station, Ontario, Canada L0L 2E0 (ph 705 487-3633 or 705 323-8572

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