In order to save man-hours and improve labor efficiency, a dual-operating machine for transplanting dry land pot seedlings was proposed, and aiming at the problems of low planting qualification rate due to unsatisfactory planting trajectory and high missing seedlings rate due to planting claws clogged in the transplanting process, a dryland pot seedling planting mechanism was designed. The mechanism was composed of crank, rocker, pendulum and finger-type planter, and the functions of receiving, transporting, planting and resetting seedlings were realized, so that the planting trajectory and movement posture reached the optimal state of planting agronomic requirements. The finger-type planter was designed as an open structure, the clamping finger solved the problem of soil clogging by flushing with water and closing momentary vibration. Based on the theoretical analysis of the transplanting mechanism, the kinematics model was established. The computer-aided optimization design software was developed by using Visual Basic 6.0 software, and a group of mechanism parameters that corresponded to the best trajectory of the planting mechanism was obtained. A 3D modeling of the planting mechanism was established, and the kinematics simulation analysis was carried out by using ADAMS software, which verified the rationality of the mechanism design. The prototype field experiment results showed that under the working conditions of pot seedlings with a height of about 15cm and an operating speed of 20m/min, the planting qualification rate was 98.1%, the seedling leakage rate was 0.4%, the coefficient of variation of plant spacing was 4.3%, and the qualified rate of planting depth was 96.5%, meeting the requirements for transplanting dry land pot seedlings.