I just bought a Farmbot and am planning out my garden for the Spring. I noticed potatoes were listed… and I’m wondering how the Farmbot Express is able to plant seed potatoes with the planting head? Or do seed potatoes need to be handled differently from actual seeds?
THANKS!
Specific Note on planting seeds with the FarmBot for Optimal Reliable Plant Growth:
We would suggest that you plant the sprouted potato plants and use the FarmBot to manage the gardening tasks associated with the growth of the potato plants.
Please review this video on how to sprout potatoes to gain a wealth of information on how to optimize potato growth:
For other plants to get the best plant growth and the best chance for success, we suggest that you germinate the seeds and plant the developed sprouts instead of planting the seeds. Although we have developed a functional luer lock seeder tool, this may not be the most reliable way to start new plants.
From a plant reliability perspective, we suggest that you germinate the seeds indoors in a controlled damp environment using dampened paper towels in a ziplock bag or plastic egg carton. Then plant the sprouted (germinated) seeds by hand in the FarmBot Garden Area. You will be much better off simply planting the germinated seedling plants by hand and recording the locations (X and Y location) of each plant in the FarmDesigner page.
The reason why we suggest this is because there is always some portion of seeds that will not germinate. Even under the best conditions some portion of seeds are simply duds (defective) and they will not germinate. So to eliminate the possibility of dud seeds, we suggest that you germinate the seeds in a controlled environment and then plant the sprouts.
Please view this YouTube video that gives instruction on germination:
Also this video on germination is a good resource:
We recommend to get the best plant reliability, the best option is to sprout the seeds inside your house in a warm damp place using paper towels. Then take the sprouts and plant the sprouts in the FarmBot garden area and manually add a plant by entering the X and Y co-ordinates into the FarmDesigner garden area using the FarmBot software.
Watch this video about how to germinate seeds:
Once you plant the germinated seedling, you will find that the reliability of the plant will be very high. In general seeds may not germinate because of specific local conditions like soil temperature, soil moisture, seed defects, planting too early or too deep. Once you enter the X and Y coordinates into the Farm Designer you can monitor the plant progress and manage plant growth.
Watch this YouTube Video to learn about the Farm Designer: https://youtu.be/GVb4fYaqy2M
Although under certain conditions the seeder tool does work well, the seeding sequences can be very unreliable because they require the seeds to be picked up by the vacuum needle seeder tool. It requires a very high level of precision and a spherical seed and there are many potential reasons why these seeder sequences may fail.
You will need to use high quality pelleted seeds to get the best results if you plan to plant seeds with the seeder tool.
Watch this video to learn more about pelleted seeds.
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