AutoStix Transplanter Updated With New Media Strip Component

Posted by Brian Sparks|July 7, 2020

Visser Horti Systems recently worked with Ball Horticultural Company on the latest development to its AutoStix program: the new AutoStix Media Strip for the North American market. After promising test results in North America and Europe, this new concept enables growers to import unrooted cuttings pre-stuck in growing media into North America, helping them become even more efficient.

The Media Strip concept consists of three components: the strip, the plug, and the tray. The strip is available in a 34-count module. Like all other AutoStix strips, it is made of a bio-based material. The glue plug is an Obturo plug developed by Van Der Knaap. A growing tray is developed to hold 15 media strips and is designed so the media strips fit perfectly and can be transported in a convenient way.

The strips are filled with media and shipped to offshore production locations in Africa or South and Central America. These farms will pre-stick the cuttings in the strip and place them in the tray. The tray is then shipped into a box with 2,500 cuttings to the North American grower. After about two to three weeks of rooting, depending on the crop, growers receive a nice rooted plug ready to be transplanted with the AutoStix machine into a larger liner or a finished pot.

The media strip is ready for use for all existing AutoStix machines. Visser’s six-gripper machine can reach a capacity of up to 10,000 cuttings per hour. The AutoStix machine can be connected to a pot filler directly, which makes the process of automatic cutting transplanting in pots even more efficient. Main benefits of the system are less propagation time, reduced propagation space, and less labor.

The development of AutoStix with the new Media strip is open source, which means the strip is available to all AutoStix users and suppliers. Every grower has access to the development of new strips. More than 25 farms are currently filling AutoStix strips and shipping them to growers in North America, and there are more than 30 machines installed and running in North America.