Tool for tree planting?

[Agentiron]

I am going to be planting some 25 or so Emerald Green Arborvitae in the near future. They will be in the five to seven foot range. I also have to plant a couple nine foot White Pine, and a variety of plants of different sizes in the future. I would like to know if a hoe would be best, or something like a 12" auger making several holes in the same area to waller out the hole to size. It seems the auger may have some advantages, although the hoe offers things for future jobs that the auger does not.

Any thoughts would be great.
Thanks
Jay

 

[jimmysisson]

I don't know if I'd buy a backhoe to plant a few dozen trees but with a little imagination you'll have other uses for it. I think you'll find the auger doesn't do overlapping holes well as the rim of the hole is what keeps the thing lined up straight. It's like boring holes in wood with a spade bit - goes great one at a time, but gets dangerous when overlapping.

 

[Justaplain]

Hire or rent a skid steer with a 36" tree spade. bcs

 

[450EXC]

You can buy tree spades for your 3 pt. I think the hydraulic ones were sort of expensive, maybe $ 2-4k. Manual ones were cheap.
Larry

 

[Glenn9643]

I put the pallet forks on my FEL and slide the forks together, giving me a shovel about 10" wide. Forks are 42" and will do a good job of getting the rootball if you take your time.

 

[Ryno1]

I have a backhoe and it's great for planting larger trees but is expensive. I have used a phd for small plants but like others said, overlapping holes don't work well.

 

[alco141]

i hav eplanted trees using the 12" auger, and you can get it done, but you will need to do some shovel work, the soil is loosened by the auger and you just have to get it out of the hole, a back hoe would be better but then again the post hoe digger is not the cost of a backhoe. i have planted about 300 trees over the years with my post hole digger, from 7 ft to 1 ft, also a whole bunch of shrubs bushes , even made an orchard, with my post hole digger, so you can get it done, may take somewhat longer than with a back hoe, but a lot less time than with a shovel.

alex

 

[SLOBuds]

Well I am just a glutton for punishment.

I've planted about 250 trees over the last 2 years. I like to plant saplings because they are cheap and many experts say the ones that survive are healthier than planting larger specimens. You do get losses every year though.

I use a phd to dig the hole. I go in deep and then shovel in the excess. I have some bad soil and want to try to get below the worse areas. Some times I can get through the clay. Some times not. I have a few tree species which seem to survive any type of soil though.

Take a look at Chinese Elm, Drake trees. Absolutely amazing performance. The other thing that surprised me, and it SHOULDN'T have surprised me, are the natives. I am in California and finally got hooked up with folks who sell natives. They perform extremely well as I should have known just by common sense. Some of these tiny native plants are merely slipped in the ground and forgotten. Others like the California Oaks will contract disease if you give them water over and above their winter season waters.

I also have lots of gophers and ground squirrels. So each sapling is encased in a 'gopher basket' which is simply chickenwire formed into a basket.

I am happy with the results from this process. It makes me unhappy to lose ANY trees, but I know that is bound to happen using the method that I do.

You are doing a good thing growing those trees. Don't forget to add more every few years. I have taken over a parcel where a bunch of trees were planted all at once. Now they are dying all at once - it would have been much better for the previous owner to keep planting trees each year. Or maybe every 2nd or 3rd year. (There's probably a real strategy involved.)

Good luck.

Martin

 

[Agentiron]

Thanks everyone for your great replys. I, for some reason was not getting notification of your replys, but found them today. I am glad that you folks mentioned that the phd has play, and will not make side by side holes well. It makes alot of sense, but was not something I thought of. Maybe there is an excuse to get a hoe after all! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I will be putting up a pole barn in the next year, and the hoe could be handy for running lines and other good stuff.

Thanks so much
Jay

 

[Henry]

I agree with SLObuds, a post-hole digger works great for planting trees. I've planted about 75 so far, using the PHD. I tend to dig the hole much deeper than necessary and have learned to make sure that I properly re-fill / pack the dirt properly. If you don't, the water drains too quickly, leaving your new tree roots high and dry.