Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-5433691-20130708031155/@comment-5627887-20130708083731

You don't need to use the planter, because a Harvester will always leave the bottom block of Sugar Cane intact. If you manually plant the Sugar Cane in the area you want to start with, and place a Harvester to cover the area, it will just take off any extra Sugar Cane as it grows.