Apparatus and method for placing plant cuttings and cutting holding unit for planting cuttings in a cultivation medium

Apparatus for placing cuttings of plants in a cultivation medium comprising:na cuttings supply system for supplying a plurality of cuttings;a camera system for identifying cuttings among the plurality of cuttings provided by the supply system that are suitable for individual pick up using pattern recognition;a pick-up tool for picking up cuttings identified by the camera system among the plurality of cuttings;a planting system for simultaneously planting multiple cuttings in the cultivation medium, wherein the planting system and the pick-up tool are separate entities and the pick-up tool is arranged for placing picked-up cuttings in the planting system; andone or more cutting holding units for planting cuttings in a cultivation medium comprising a cutting clamp comprising two opposing members for clamping a portion of a cutting at a clamping position, and further comprising a holding device comprising two opposing members for supporting the cutting at a position closer to the cutting end that is to be put into the cultivation medium than the clamping position.

Method of placing cuttings of plants in a cultivation medium comprising:nproviding a plurality of cuttings via a cuttings supply system;identifying individual cuttings among the plurality of cuttings for individual pick up by means of a camera system using pattern recognition;picking up an identified cutting with a pick-up tool and placing the picked up cutting into a planting system;clamping the cutting with a cutting clamp of the planting system;holding the cutting with a holding device of the planting system; andplanting the placed cutting in the cultivation medium with the planting system.