Automated Native Plant Plug Planting

UCD Arboretum, Davis, CA, USA

ID: FUA7

Relevant Skills: mechanical design, agriculture

For native grassland restoration, the typical sequence of events in the Fall is to disk a field, wait for the first germinating rains, spray the field with herbicide to kill the non-native grasses, then seed with native grasses which germinate and grow with subsequent Winter rains. However, with the drought and future climate change impacts, we have found that this previously reliable method has less success. The lack of an initial rain for germination, or the initial rain being of such intensity that we are unable to get equipment into the field for the first spraying, has made it much more difficult to establish native grasslands. We have found that the best response to these new conditions is to plant the grasses as already-grown plugs. The plugs have better chance of survival, a greater planting window, and a developed root system. However, they are very labor intensive to install, with a laborer needing to first create a hole with a dibble, then to push an individual plug into the hole. Automation of plug planting would greatly increase the success and scale of native grassland restoration when climatic conditions are not optimal for seed germination. Automation exists for agricultural crops, such as tomatoes and lettuce, but not for grass plugs. The ideal solution would be something that could be used in small and large areas, is potentially scalable from a few thousand to tens of thousands of plugs, can handle slight inclines, and is either self-propelled or can be pulled on a medium-sized quad or small tractor.