How to use the Paperpot Transplanter

What you need

Prepare the trays

1. Work on a stable table. Choose the chain for your crop’s in-row spacing (2″, 4″ or 6″). Slide the spreader bars under the white paper tabs on both sides without tearing the paper. The printed side can face either way.
2. Set the spreader frame in front of you, teeth up. Using the bars as handles, pull the chain open like an accordion until it’s about as wide as the frame.
3. Find the offset tooth in one top corner of the frame and turn the chain so the offset corner of its honeycomb lines up with it.
4. Starting on one side, set the honeycomb cells over the teeth (every other row hooks on), then hook the other side. If cells won’t line up, stretch the chain wider.
5. Remove the spreader bars.
6. Turn an empty germination tray upside down over the frame and chain. Holding the tray and the frame, flip everything right side up. Leave the frame in place.

Fill, dibble and seed

Fill the tray

1. Use slightly moist potting mix. Bone-dry mix compresses after the first watering and leaves cells only partly full.
2. Pour an excess of mix over the chain and spread it in a circular motion so every cell fills. Check the edge cells; they tend to be under-filled.
3. Tamp lightly so all cells are equally firm without distorting the paper, then brush off the extra until you can see the honeycomb.

Dibble

1. With the spreader frame still on, line up the top-left dibble with the top-left frame tooth and the top edge of the board with the top edge of the frame.
2. Press down firmly until every cell is indented to the full depth of the dibbles.

Seed with the Kwik Klik Slide

Use a 264-hole Paperpot bottom plate and a top plate sized for your seed. Plate setup, the crop plate chart and troubleshooting are in the Kwik Klik Slide instructions.

1. Tilt the tray slightly toward you so seed doesn’t roll around in the seeder.
2. Pour seed onto the top plate. Tilt and rotate the seeder until every hole is filled, then tilt it back to collect extra seed away from the holes.
3. Align the seeder like the dibble board: top-left hole over the cell next to the top-left frame tooth, top edges lined up. When the corners line up, every hole does.
4. Slide the top plate to drop seed into all 264 cells at once. For sticky seed, check that every seed dropped. If static is a problem, wipe the plates with ACL Staticide.
5. Holding the chain down with one hand, lift off the spreader frame.

Cover and water

1. Without pressing, add just enough mix or vermiculite to hide the honeycomb, and smooth the surface.
2. Water right after seeding, about 1 liter per tray, then another liter 30 minutes later. If your mix absorbs slowly, water more often in smaller amounts.

Transplant

Get the trays and beds ready

1. Water the trays until fully saturated at least 15 minutes before planting. The water dissolves the glue between cells so the chain unfolds smoothly. Under-watered trays cause problems in the field.
2. Optional: water with an organic liquid fertilizer for a boost at transplant.
3. Tear off the white paper strips at the ends of each chain before loading trays on the cart.
4. Aim for loose, moist soil that flows rather than clumps. Break up heavy soil, let wet soil dry, and clear mulch, residue, rocks and root balls.
5. Mark your rows with a bed-prep rake or row marker for even spacing and a sight line.

Plant the chain

1. Set a tray in the transplanter. Slide the metal ramp under the front edge of the chain, all the way into the tray, tabs pointing down and toward the front.
2. Set the transplanter at the start of the row, handle pointing down the bed, furrow opener at the front edge of the bed. Pull it forward until the whole tool is in the row.
3. By hand, clear a furrow at the tail of the transplanter from the chute exit to the sweeps.
4. Pull the loose end of the chain down through the body into the furrow, stopping before the sweeps. Pin the first cell with a landscape staple.
5. Pull the transplanter while walking in the aisle, watching the front to stay on your line and the back to check the chain feeds smoothly at the right depth. Walking forward along the left side of the bed is faster than walking backward over it.
6. At the end of the bed, keep pulling until the opener reaches the end, lifting the handle slightly to lay the last of the chain. Tear the chain by hand at the last cell.
7. With one hand on the carry handle and one on the handle post, lift and turn the transplanter for the next row.

Adjusting the transplanter

Manuals and tech sheets

Questions? Email hello@moderngrower.co.