Seedling growing and handling device

Claim 1

In combination with an automatic seedling transplanter having a substantially horizontally disposed bearing plate provided with a vertically disposed drop tube through which seedlings pass in one by one fashion and having means for moving the seedlings into sequential dropping relation with said drop tube, a seedling growing and handling tray adapted to be placed on and moved over the bearing plate and comprising a continuous, one-piece, sheet of material having a top and a bottom and formed into a multiplicity of vertically upstanding side by side seed growth zones; each of said zones being composed of a single upstanding and smoothly tapering confining wall formed from the sheet of material in the shape of a hollow open ended truncated cone having an open minor upper end and an open major lower end of a larger diameter than the upper end; and a web of said sheet material interconnecting the lower larger diameter major ends thereof into a continuous structure with the lower major ends being in coplanar relation and with the seedlings grown in said growth zones being selectively registerable through the open major lower ends with the drop tube so that they may be readily removed from the lower larger diameter major ends into the drop tube with a minimum disturbance of the plants.