Method and apparatus for crop transplanting

Claim 1

Apparatus for use in crop transplanting comprising: a vehicular frame; carriage means mounted on said frame selectively operable for reciprocal shifting relative to the lenghthwise dimension of said frame; carriage return means mounted on said frame operable for selectively shifting said carriage means in a forward direction; plural fluid dispensing means mounted on said carriage means, each including a nozzle substantially vertically mounted and selectively operable for injecting a fluid jet into the ground for forming a crop receiving cavity which extends beneath the ground surface; and reservoir means mounted on said carriage means for storing fluid under pressure; a fluid supply source mounted on said frame including pump means operable for delivering fluid to said reservoir means; impeding means mounting on said carriage means operable for selectively maintaining said carriage means substantially immobile relative to the ground during travel of said frame thereover; first valve means mounted on said frame operable for selectively metering fluid from said reservoir means to said fluid dispensing means; second valve means mounted on said frame operable for selectively metering fluid from said fluid supply source to said impeding means; and control means interconnected to said first and second valve means, said control means being operable for actuating said first valve means to selectively meter fluid from said reservoir means to said fluid dispensing means and also being operable for actuating said second valve means to selectively meter fluid from said supply source to said impeding means and said carriage return means.