Planting equipment and specifications

Rice transplanters and precision planters: matching rows, seedlings and fertilizer

Planting equipment in this section covers two quite different jobs. Most of it is rice transplanting, where a machine picks seedlings from a nursery mat and sets them into puddled fields at a fixed row pitch. The rest is dryland seeding on ridges, where single seeds and fertilizer go into the soil in one pass. A buyer chooses first by job, then by row count, then by the nursery and power options that fit the farm.

For smaller rice areas, the Xinglaihe 2ZG-4QR is a four-row ride-on transplanter with four-wheel drive and an R300Max petrol engine of 301 cc rated 6 kW at 3600 rpm. It plants mat or pot-type mat seedlings with 2–4 leaves and 8–25 cm height, in rows 30 cm apart, with six plant spacings from 13 to 25 cm and seven depth levels across 1–4 cm. At 200 kg and 1470 mm wide it is the lightest transplanter here, and Zhejiang Xinglaihe lists 0.12–0.18 ha/h for it.

Larger farms move to six or eight rows. The Xinglaihe 630 plants six rows at 30 cm and comes as the petrol 2ZG-6Q (750 kg) or the diesel 2ZG-6A (850 kg), with a 2080 mm overall width, blanket-mat seedlings and six hill spacings from 11 to 25 cm. The Xinglaihe 825 plants eight rows at a tighter 25 cm, as the petrol 2ZG-8Q2 with a 679 cc V-twin at 14.5 kW or the diesel 2ZG-8AX with an XY377-A at 18 kW; it weighs 780 or 870 kg and is listed at 0.4–0.6 ha/h. Both use HST plus two mechanical ranges and four-wheel drive. Choose between them by the row pitch your fields and harvesters already work to, then choose petrol or diesel around local fuel and service.

Seed-production growers have a dedicated build. The 820 / 2ZG-8AJ plants eight rows only 20 cm apart, with along-row spacings of 11, 13, 15, 18, 21 and 25 cm that give 140 down to 62 plants per 3.3 m², and six depth levels across 1–5 cm. It runs the same 18 kW XY377-A diesel with HST. Before ordering, settle the parent row pattern and how separate seedling lots will be loaded and kept apart in the field.

Fertilizer can go in at the same time. The 2FCF-6 / 2FCF-8 attachments fit six-row and eight-row transplanters of the 2ZG-6 and 2ZG-8 families. Fluted rollers meter dry granules and forced air carries them to openers beside each row, placing fertilizer 50 ±10 mm deep and 45 ±10 mm to the side. A handwheel with 14 positions covers 60–600 kg/ha, the hopper holds 86 L split into two 43 L boxes, and individual clutches shut off single rows. The attachment draws 1–3 kW from the carrier, so confirm the exact transplanter model it will mount on.

For dryland ridge crops, the 2BQD-8 from Ningbo Benye Heavy Industry is an all-electric pneumatic precision planter. In one pass it applies side-deep fertilizer, places single seeds, finishes the seedbed and closes the furrow with V-shaped covering and pressing. It switches between two and three rows on a ridge, row and plant spacing are adjustable, and its controls monitor air pressure, missed or doubled seeds and missed fertilizer, at up to 12 km/h. Bring your crop, seed lot and ridge profile to the quote and agree a placement trial in your own field.

Prepare a category-specific sourcing brief · Read procurement guides

Compare the right fields

Read competing quotations on the same basis

Compare transplanter quotations only at the same row count and pitch, the same engine choice and the same seedling format, with any 2FCF fertilizer attachment priced as a separate line tied to the named carrier. Treat the published ha/h figures as a starting point and ask each maker to state the field size, seedling loading and turning conditions behind them. For the ridge planter, compare offers on the row mode, spacing range and monitoring package, and make the field placement trial part of the order.

Questions for your supplier

• Which seedling format, leaf stage and mat size does the quoted transplanter accept?
• Which along-row spacings and depth levels does this exact build offer?
• Which transplanter models does the fertilizer attachment fit, and how is the rate calibrated?
• What field conditions and loading routine sit behind the quoted ha/h figure?
• Can a field demonstration or placement trial be arranged before delivery?

Send these questions with your enquiry and ask for the model-specific documents in the quotation.