Excavation and transplanting of plants with a ball of soil

Plant transplanting apparatus, for transplanting a plant together with a ball of soil containing roots of the plant, comprising:

• a plurality of curved blades each having a wide end, a pointed end, and a curved longitudinal axis extending from the wide end to the pointed end such that the longitudinal axes of a plurality of said blades have the same radius of curvature;
• hammering means for driving the blades into the soil one at a time, and which is detachably engageable with the blades;
• guide means detachably connectable with the blades, for guiding the blades as the blades are driven into the soil along curved paths so that the wide ends of a plurality of blades which have been driven into the soil lie on a closed loop, without necessarily engaging each other, and the blades form, at least partially, a cup-shaped container in which the wide ends of the blades extend around said closed loop and the pointed ends converge at or adjacent each other;
• at least two bars rigidly connected to the wide end of each blade and projecting from a side of the blade on which the center of curvature of the longitudinal blade axis is situated so that adjacent bars of blades which are successively driven into the soil are adapted to overlie each other in intersecting relation;
• and
• fastening means for securing the intersecting bars to each other to thereby hold the blades together after the blades have been detached from the hammering means and the guide means.