Seed planter

A seed planter comprising:

• a mobile supporting structure;
• a planting assembly operatively attached to the mobile supporting structure;
• a dispensing assembly operatively attached to the mobile supporting structure for dispensing a batch of seed;
• and
• a metering assembly operatively attached to the mobile supporting structure, the metering assembly comprising:
• a) seed staging components comprising separated seed pre-staging and/or staging positions for staging pre-specified counts of seed separated from other counts in the batch and maintaining separation of the pre-specified counts of seed from other counts in the batch for planting.

A seed planter having a planting assembly with a seed intake, the seed planter for use in combination with a multi-well seed carrier adapted for holding a batch of singulated seed, the seed planter comprising:

• a mobile supporting structure;
• a dispensing assembly operatively attached to the mobile supporting structure, the dispensing assembly comprising a seed dispenser adapted for receipt of a multi-well seed carrier and for dispensing seed from the seed carrier;
• and
• a seed metering assembly comprising:
• a) one or more seed staging components comprising separated seed staging positions for staging one or more batches of singulated seed;
• and
• b) one or more seed transitioning components in combination with the seed staging components for transitioning singulated seed through seed staging components to provide sequenced communication of seed into the seed intake for planting.

A method for planting seed comprising:

• providing a seed planter comprising a planting assembly, a dispensing assembly and a metering assembly operatively attached to a mobile supporting structure;
• loading the dispensing assembly with a batch of seed comprising one or more sets of pre-specified counts of seed separated from other counts in the batch;
• dispensing the pre-specified counts of seed in the batch from the dispensing assembly;
• maintaining separation of the specified counts of seed through the metering assembly;
• and
• planting the specified counts of seed with the planting assembly.

A method for planting seed from a multi-well seed carrier adapted for holding a batch of pre-singulated seed, the method comprising:

• providing a seed planter comprising a dispensing assembly and a planting assembly operatively attached to a mobile supporting structure;
• loading a seed carrier holding a batch of pre-singulated seed into the dispensing assembly;
• dispensing singulated seed from individual wells in the seed carrier;
• staging seed in separated seed staging positions before planting;
• and
• metering singulated seed through separated seed staging positions into the planting assembly for planting.

A seed planter system comprising:

• planting means for planting seed;
• seed carrying means for carrying seed in singulated form;
• dispensing means for dispensing singulated seed from seed carrying means;
• and
• staging means for staging multiple batches of singulated seed or specified counts of seed separate from other counts at the planting means.