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Multipit machine innovation for forestry
The tractor-driven machine, developed and patented by Multipit, clears the slash, applies a weedicide spray, digs six pits, applies fertiliser and water and plants six seedlings in one pass. It is also possible to attach a mulching head to the front of the machine so that it mulches the slash ahead of the pitting and planting functions instead of clearing slash off the planting rows.
The driving force behind Multipit is well known Saasveld lecturer Jaap Steenkamp. He has been assisted in the development process by his son Pieter Steenkamp, a mechanical engineer, and Johan Smit who is an electronics specialist.
A Bell SJ315 TLB is the carrier and energy source for the land prep and planting functions. The bucket at the front of the TLB has been replaced with an angled slash reducer which follows the profile of the soil and clears the slash off the two planting rows.
Behind the slash reducer blades the weedicide spray nozzles apply a continuous or intermittent strip spray.
There are three pitting heads on either side of the machine which rotate and are pushed into the soil by a combination of gravity and hydraulic force. Pit dimensions of 530 mm diameter x 250 mm deep, or 330 mm diameter x 250 mm deep are possible.
Fertiliser is applied to the soil in a 300 mm circle around the seedling through a pneumatic blower system outsourced from an agricultural company.
The seedling depositer simultaneously applies water, plants the seedling in the centre of the pit and compacts the surrounding soil.
A number of espacement variations are possible: 3 x 2, 3 x 3, 3 x 3.3, and 3.5 x 3.5 (on the last three options two heads need to be removed so the machine will plant four seedlings at a time instead of six).
Productivity is estimated to be between 2 000 and 3 000 plantings per day.
Potential advantages over manual forestry operations
The Multipit offers forestry companies a number of potential advantages over conventional manual operations, including uniformity of pits and the potential to plant around the clock (24 hours a day) thus making better use of a short planting season.
At a later stage different combinations are possible, for example using a Bell loader as the carrier for a smaller, two-head machine, or a single-head used behind a farm tractor.
The machine was almost ready for field trials when SA Forestry magazine visited at the beginning of February, though all the individual components have undergone extensive testing.
The machine has been in the research and development phase since 2001, with funding assistance coming from the DTI, the IDC and Sappi who has shown a lot of interest in the machine.
The machine is quite big, it measures 5.6 m x 11 m, and will need to be moved on a lowbed trailer. Total weight is in the region of 10 tons. The cost will be around R2,2 million.
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