The J.D. Irving mechanical seeding harvester : design concepts

Abstract

A mechanical seedling harvester, tested at the J.D. Irving Tree Nursery, is capable of lifting 60,000 seedlings per day, with a working crew of 6. Seedlings are completely processed on the harvester including; lifting, removing dirt from roots, root pruning, sorting, baling with peat moss and water, tying and unloading the bales adjacent to the harvester. Three development stages of the harvester are looked at along with proposed design changes for the future. 250,000 seedlings per day production is possible with a few of the additional modifications.