In order to solve the problems of jacking seedling failure, compression deformation and damage when the lump of mud is clamped, taking jacking and clamping components as the research object. Mechanical analysis models of jacking and clamping the lump of mud were established. Needle diameter, needle length, velocity, and compression distance were the main factors affecting the effect of seedling taking extraction by mechanical analysis. The related physical properties of the lump of mud were measured by experiments. The EEPA contact model used in the EDEM software was used as the contact model between particles, between particles and tray, and between particles and seedling taking parts. And the particle model was established to simulate the real lump of mud. EDEM software was used to simulate the process of jacking and clamping seedlings. Box-Behnken design method and univariate control method were used to design the simulation experiment of jacking and clamping seedlings. The optimized parameter combination that was obtained by using Design-Expert software were needle diameter of 1.9mm, needle length of 18mm, jacking velocity of 0.3m/s and compression distance of 4mm. The seedling taking performance verification tests was carried out, and the seedling taking frequency was 100 plants/min. The seedling taking success rate of the optimized end-effector was 93.25%, and the lump of mud of the bowl was good. The results of this experiment met the requirement of automatic dry land transplanting of leaf vegetable pothole seedlings.