The railroad tie wired to the front grill guard is a sophisticated, highly precise weight to keep the front of the tractor on the ground. The plants have arrived via truck. Here we have 79.000 plants on the ground waiting to be planted. Here is the planter. The large green wheel in the middle of the planter rolls atop the bed punching holes at just the right spacing.
Water then flows from the yellow tank, filling each hole about half full.
Four people plant an average of 1500 plants an hour. Notice the blue hose in the bottom of the picture. After the plants are planted in the beds we will put out the sprinklers again to give them a few shots of water through the heat of the day. This will help eliminate transplant shock and ensure that more plants survive. Normally we might lose 2 or 3 plants on each row of 750.