Patent ID: 8656640

Claim:
A balling station for securing an earth ball of a plant to be transplanted in a wire basket, the balling station comprising: a stand for receiving and supporting the wire basket for securely surrounding the earth ball of a plant to be transplanted, the stand positioned in a nominally upright position and capable of rotating the wire basket with the earth ball of a plant deposited therein about a generally vertical central axis; an operator station connected to the stand; a powered drive mechanism to selectively rotate the stand about a generally vertical axis relative to the operator station, enabling an operator to secure the wire basket about the earth ball; and a powered tilt mechanism for moving the stand between the nominally upright position having the generally vertical-central axis and an unload position in which the generally vertical central axis has been tipped sufficiently toward a horizontal position for removing the earth ball and the secured wire basket from the stand.