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  • From: Curtis Millsap <cmillsap1 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Hatfield transplanter and Soil blocks
  • Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:38:58 -0800 (PST)

Yes, I use the Hatfield 2" with soil blocks all the time.  We do have to make sure the blocks are a little on the dry side, or they are hard to get down the tube without breaking up, but it works great.   The key, we learned last year, is to allow the plants to grow big enough that their leaves help keep the plant upright as they drop. It also helps if the transplanter operator holds the tube at a slight angle, and the plant dropper drops down the side of the tube, so the blocks slide down, rather than free fall.  1.5" blocks drop very cleanly, 2" blocks are sometimes a little tight, depending on how much they slumped when the blocks were made (really more of a problem with the block mixture than anything).  I bought a Hatfield 1.5 this fall, to use with the smaller blocks, but the juries' still out on this one, as the first set of blocks I tried to use it with were too big.  I think that the fact that they were old plants, which had probably slumped a good bit, might have had something to do with it. I've never timed us, but with two people who know what they are doing, I think we can transplant about 10-15 plants a minute, or 600 plants an hour. We've also used the hatfield to plant potatoes.  Overall, I think it's a great tool.
Thanks,
Curtis
 
Curtis and Sarah Millsap
Millsap Farm
Springfield MO
C 839-0847
www.millsapfarms.com




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