Tobacco Planting Machine
Some vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cabbage and tobacco are produced from seedlings that were previously grown in nurseries. In 2018, tobacco was planted in an area of approximately 663 thousand decares in the Aegean region. Machine planting is carried out in all areas except sloping, tractor-free areas and small fields.
Although tobacco planting is not possible in stony, outcrop, soils where the bedrock is close to the surface with the tobacco seedling planter, tobacco seedlings are planted with a machine in a relatively deep, stone-free, rural slope or rural base land. The main reasons for planting seedlings with a machine are as follows.
As the sewing cost is reduced in sewing with the machine, the production costs are reduced.
Since sewing is done in more areas in a short time with the machine, spring rains are prevented from interrupting the planting. More work is done in a short time.
The following points are sought in a good seedling planting:
Seedlings should not be damaged during planting. Maximum 1% seedling damage can be allowed.
Seedlings should be able to be placed in the soil in an upright position without bending the roots up. The angle made by the planted seedling with the vertical should not exceed 30 degrees at most.
Tobacco seedlings should have a smooth stem structure that is not inclined, and their length should not be less than 12 cm from the root neck.
Seedling should be firmly pressed into the soil at planting. The minimum force required to remove the seedling from the soil after planting should be 0.3 kg. With this strength, the root should not come out of the soil, the leaves should be broken before.
The seedling retention rate should reach 90-95%.
During planting, the seedling should be able to give life water. In the planting of tobacco seedlings, the amount of water poured over a row of 1 meter is between 0.4 and 0.8 liters. In hand-planting, the water should be given to the furrow where the seedling is planted, without touching the leaves of the planted plant in order to give life water with a pitcher-hose.
The main organs of the tobacco seedling planter are:
Scratch-furrower
Seedling planting element
Seedling press wheels
Line-furrow closers
Life watering scheme
The line made by the creator in the soil should have a rectangular profile. In manual seedling planting, it is very difficult to place the pressure seedling to a sufficient depth, and the danger of seedling roots curling up is more. Line openers should be able to open lines 20 cm deep and 8 cm wide. The planting depth can be infinitely adjusted with the clamp connection that connects the hatch opener to the roof.
Multi-row seedling planting machines are generally manufactured as hanging type. Feeding the seedlings to the seedling planting organs is done manually. Fully automatic seedling planting machines are not widely used yet. Seedling planting organs are generally disc or claw type. Disc seedling planting organs are more suitable for planting tobacco seedlings, since the plant distance is required on a narrow row. Indeed, the seedling distance over the row is 4 cm in the countryside; It is desirable that it be 5–6 cm in the field. However, in practice, 10–15 cm. planting is done at intervals. Seedling planting can also be done with a tractor that does not have a reptile speed gear in the countryside.
In the seedling planting machines, the discs embedded on the roof at an angle of 18 degrees at the point of contact with each other are made of 2 mm thick fibroser code 600 (glass fiber reinforced polyester). Disc diameter 460 mm. dir.
The seedling, which is given to the disc with its root above from the top side where the discs are open, is lowered down by squeezing it between two discs by the planting worker sitting on the tobacco seedling planting machine, and placed in the groove formed by the furrow angle and into which the life water flows. Then the seedling is pressed into the soil by pressing it from the side by the pressure wheels on both sides.
The pressure wheels used in tobacco seedling planting machines press the planted seedlings by moving from both sides of the line at an angle of 66 degrees to the horizontal. The wheel diameter is 420–428 mm, the wheel sidewall width is 60–65 mm and the clearance between two wheels is 60–70 mm. This interval can be adjusted according to the size of the seedling and the swelling of the soil.
Since automatic life water dispensing devices are not suitable for tobacco seedlings, continuous flow water dispensing systems are used in machines manufactured in our country. The volume of the water tank is 210-250 liters. When the taps are fully open, the water flowed over a 1 meter row is 0.4-0.8 liters. Since a tank of water is emptied in a short time such as 5-15 minutes, in order to eliminate the waiting time of the planting machine when supplying water to the tank, as used in the Aegean Region plantings, from a 2.5-3 ton water tanker placed on a high place to the sewing machine tank with a rubber hose. water supply is done (*).
There are social, technical and economic advantages of using a tobacco seedling planter instead of hand planting in soils other than stony, outcrops, and where the bedrock is close to the surface; Planting tobacco seedlings with a machine reduces the need for human labor compared to manual planting and makes things easier. Requirements of seedling planting are fulfilled better in stony and non-exposed soils when planting with a machine.
The technical advantages of machine sewing over hand sewing are as follows:
Since the nest opened with a press (plant wall) is conical in hand planting, it is very difficult to place the seedling at a sufficient depth, and the risk of being affected by drought by curling up the seedling roots is more. This danger is reduced when sewing with a machine. In machine planting, the life water flows to the furrow while the seedling is planted, so the seedlings can benefit more from the life water. Because life water is given after the seedling is planted in manual planting, if a skilled worker is not used to give life water, a layer of cream forms on the surface. If water splashes on the seedling leaves, this water can damage the leaves and stick the leaf to the soil.
Due to the efficiency of life water in machine planting, the plant overcomes the sluggishness in a few days.
In machine sewing, since things can be done quickly, damages that may arise without delay in sewing are eliminated.
5-row tobacco planting machines are used for Aegean region tobacco. Tobacco planting works are done by machine, except for the fields that are not able to enter the tractor, which are outcropped, stony or small-piece fields. Various types and models of tobacco seedling planting machines are used in Denizli tobacco production areas. In machine planting, 6-7 decares of planting can be done on the same day in normal field and weather conditions. In this sense, large plantings and planting at full maturity, as the hands will mature at the same time, are the conditions for quality production.
* İsmet ÖNAL Prof. Dr. Ege University Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Machinery