| (11) | EP 0 313 260 A3 |
(12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(54) | Mobile planter |
(57) A planter for placement of plants in spaced parallel rows in the soil has a plant dispenser (30) fed manually or automatically from a plant supply and delivering to a furrow-opening coulter (50) assembly and press wheels (46). The plant dispenser (30) comprises a drum having an internal impellor defining plant-receiving chutes through which the plants (34) pass, and thence downwards and outwards through an opening in the drum. The coulter assembly has reciprocated coulter side plates (48) which receive and support each plant in a receiving zone between them, and by forward movement relative to the plant and relative to a fixed placement member (84) located in front of the plant, allow soil to flow back to cover the plant's root ball. The press wheels (46) are mounted with a variable castor angle to vary their soil-gathering effect. A hitch has twin parallel toolbars whereby the row units are freely laterally position-adjustable even across the tractor hitch. |