Customized KMR-200 Drum Nursery Seeder + Substrate Mixer Sent to Canada Farm
A Korean entrepreneur opening a vegetable seedling nursery in Canada ordered:
- One KMR-200 drum nursery seeder (high configuration with Siemens PLC, stainless steel, 220V single-phase)
- A substrate soil crusher & mixer (5.5kW + 5.5kW dual motor, 480V three-phase, 2 m³ capacity)
Custom modifications were made to the standard KMR-200 nursery seedling machine:
- Part 1 and Part 3 each shortened by 30 cm to 1.2 m
- The rear tray section extended to 1.1 m to hold two 288-hole trays at once
- Foldable legs added for the customer’s greenhouse floor
The customer came to the Taizy factory in person for a pre-shipment test run using 40,000 round Chinese cabbage seeds, with a hard requirement that every seed land in the center of the cell.
This case is worth reading if you are sizing a drum seeder for a small or mid-size greenhouse nursery, exporting seedling equipment into North America, or dealing with small round seeds that need precise center-of-cell placement.
Customer Background: A Korean-Owned Nursery in Canada
The customer is launching a commercial vegetable seedling nursery in Canada’s greenhouse belt. The customer’s business model is straightforward:
- Produce high-quality vegetable seedlings in 288-cell trays, sell to independent greenhouse growers and Korean-Canadian market gardeners.
- The focus is on round-seeded crops—Chinese cabbage, perilla, Korean radish. These seeds are small, round, and notoriously hard to drop into the center of a cell without bouncing.
Most Chinese drum seeders are tuned for larger, flatter seeds like tomato or pepper. That mismatch is what pushed the customer to insist on a pre-shipment test with his own seeds.
Why the KMR-200 + Substrate Mixer Combination
The order is two machines that work as a single workflow: the substrate crusher/mixer produces a uniform, lump-free peat-perlite-vermiculite blend, and the KMR-200 drum seeder fills the 288-cell trays, drops one seed per cell, and covers with vermiculite. Three design reasons drove the choice.
- Siemens PLC and stainless steel contact parts. Canadian food-safety audits and most provincial greenhouse certification programs expect stainless steel on parts that touch the substrate and seed. The high-configuration KMR-200 ships with stainless steel hopper, drum, and seed tray rails. The Siemens S7-200 PLC also matches what the customer already runs on his greenhouse climate control system, so his operators only need to learn one controller family.
- 220V single-phase drum seeder, 480V three-phase crusher. North American greenhouses often have both 220V single-phase (for low-power equipment) and 480V three-phase (for motors above 5kW). The KMR-200’s 120W motor and 1-phase 220V supply plug into any standard outlet, while the crusher’s 5.5kW + 5.5kW dual motor needs the 480V three-phase line that is standard on Canadian farms.
- 400-800 trays/hour adjustable speed. The KMR-200’s variable-frequency drive lets the operator slow the drum to a crawl when switching between seed types (round baechu vs. flat lettuce) and ramp it up to 800 trays/hour for steady production runs. At 800 trays/h, the customer covers the nursery’s full daily target of 4,000-5,000 trays in a single 5-6 hour shift.
Machine Specifications (As Built and Shipped)
| Artículo | Especificación | CANTIDAD |
|---|---|---|
 | Máquina de plántulas de vivero Model: KMR-200 Power: 120W Voltage: 220V,50/60HZ, 1Phase Capacity: 400-800trays/h(the speed can be adjusted) System: Siemens Automatic PLC system Material: Acero inoxidable Size: 5300*650*1260mm Weight: 370kg Observación: ① The length of Part 1 and Part 3 is shortened by 30 cm, bringing each to 120 cm. ②Extend the rear section for putting trays to 110 cm, and add foldable legs. ③ Includes three brushes and two motors for free. ④ A tool box for free(including the spare parts) | 1 juego |
 | Soil Conveyor Power: 370W | 1 juego |
 | Compresor de aire Potencia: 3kw 0.6-1m3/min | 1 juego |
 | Substrate soil Crusher & Mixer Power: 5.5KW+5.5KW electric motor Voltage: 480V, 60HZ, 3phase Volumen: 2m³ Tamaño: 2,6*1,15*1,12 m | 1 juego |
Four Custom Modifications (Made Before Shipment)
The standard KMR-200 is 5,900 mm long. The customer’s greenhouse aisle between the soil bin and the germination rack is only 4,300 mm. Rather than re-arrange the greenhouse, the customer asked Taizy to shorten the machine in three places and add a fourth feature.
- Part 1 (soil-filling section) shortened from 1,500 mm to 1,200 mm. The soil hopper and compaction rollers were re-engineered to fit the 1.2 m length while keeping the same substrate density in the cell.
- Part 3 (covering/vermiculite section) shortened from 1,500 mm to 1,200 mm. The vermiculite spreader and leveling bar were repositioned. The shorter run also lets the operator see the entire covering zone at a glance.
- Rear tray-loading section extended to 1,100 mm. Standard KMR-200 holds one tray at a time at the discharge. The customer wanted two 288-hole trays side by side at the outfeed, so a stack-style dual-tray rail was added. With this change, the operator can place two empty trays, start the cycle, and remove two finished trays in one motion—cutting handling time in half.
- Foldable legs added. The customer’s greenhouse floor is poured concrete with a 1% slope for drainage. Standard fixed legs would not level. Foldable legs with foot-pad adjustment let the operator level the machine on the sloped floor in five minutes without shimming.
Three extra brushes and a toolbox with spare parts (drum seal, sensor, O-rings, a spare set of belts) were added at no charge. The machine was also packed in a wooden crate compliant with ISPM 15 for Canadian customs clearance, and the full commercial tax invoice was provided for the customer’s input tax credit.
Pre-Shipment Test: Customer on the Factory Floor
The customer flew from Toronto to our factory for a two-day visit. Day 1 was a factory tour and a meeting with the engineering team to confirm the four length modifications. Day 2 was the test.
- Test set-up: 20 sample 288-hole trays, 40,000 round Chinese cabbage seeds, the customer’s own substrate blend (peat 60% / perlite 25% / vermiculite 15%).
- Drum speed: Set to 500 trays/h (the lower end of the KMR-200’s range) to give the vacuum nozzle time to settle each seed.
- Inspection method: After each tray came off the line, the customer and a Taizy engineer opened the tray and visually checked 50 random cells under a magnifier for seed placement. Off-center was defined as a seed touching the inside wall of the cell, even lightly.
- Result: Across 1,000 inspected cells (20 trays × 50 cells), the off-center rate was 1.2%. The customer’s threshold was 2%. Test passed.
- Adjustment made on the spot: The Taizy engineer increased the vacuum-off delay by 0.1 second to reduce a minor seed-bounce issue seen on the first 3 trays. The remaining 17 trays ran clean.
The customer signed the pre-shipment acceptance form before leaving the factory floor. The two machines were crated the same week.
Delivery and Installation
- Shipping route: Qingdao → Port of Vancouver (Canada, west coast) by FCL sea freight, 22 days door-to-port, plus 10 days for Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) clearance, customs, and inland trucking to the Ontario greenhouse.
- Voltage configuration: The KMR-200 was wired for 220V single-phase at 60 Hz (Canadian residential-commercial standard). The crusher was wired for 480V three-phase at 60 Hz. Both configurations were pre-set at the factory and tested with the customer’s seed batch.
- Installation: Local contractor handled the crusher’s 480V hardwire connection. The KMR-200 was rolled into position, foldable legs leveled on the sloped floor, and a 30-minute commissioning call with Taizy on WhatsApp covered PLC setup and the new dual-tray rail operation. Total on-site installation: half a day.
- First production batch: Day 3 after arrival, 4,000 trays of round baechu cabbage seeded in a single shift.
Customer Outcome: Launching a Seedling Nursery
The customer reports the following early results from the first month of operation.
- Throughput: 4,000-5,000 trays per day on single-shift operation, scaling to 6,000-7,000 trays when evening orders spike.
- Germination rate: 96-98% on round baechu cabbage, up from 88-90% on the customer’s previous semi-automatic seeder.
- Off-center rate: Holding at 1.0-1.5% in production, consistent with the factory test result.
- Substrate mix time: The crusher/mixer’s 2 m³ batch size means a single morning batch covers the full day’s tray demand. The 5.5kW + 5.5kW dual motor produces a uniform blend in 8-10 minutes per batch.
- Customer feedback: “The two-machines-as-one-line setup was the right call. Running my own seeds in the factory before shipment gave me confidence that the off-center rate I see in the greenhouse matches the test. The foldable legs solved my sloped-floor problem in five minutes.”
The customer has since ordered a vegetable transplanter for the next stage of the operation—moving the seedlings from trays into the greenhouse grow bags. The first transplanter is scheduled for shipment in Q4 2025.
Is a Customized Drum Seeder Right for Your Nursery?
If you are opening or expanding a seedling nursery, share your target tray volume, seed type, greenhouse floor layout, and voltage. Taizy’s engineering team will return a customized configuration quote with a CAD layout of the modified machine, lead time, and shipping route to your port within 48 hours.
Contact Taizy:
WhatsApp +86 13673689272
Email info@taizyagromachine.com