Redneck PHD / Tree Planter

[Champy]

Well, I've got 1000 evergreen seedlings to plant next week and as luck has it I blew out my shoulder (don't ask - stupid human trick backfired). So I created a backwoods post hole digger to help with the planting.

Took some scrap metal; chains; eye bolts; bungee cords; and my hand held 2 stroke auger. The concept was to make a cheap boom pole like device on my 3PH that would hold up the auger to use making the holes for the transplants (in a disc'd / plowed field) behind the tractor. I'll let you know how it works in a few week maybe....

Here's some pics. I'll probably get some mail from the safety police, so fire away.

[sixdogs]

Well, the safety police are on that one because it looks dangerous. Having nearly killed myself six times over 60 years I would like to suggest a different approach.
Since the field is already plowed and disked, why not just get a 3 pt hitch cultivator and put a "shovel" on it. I did this before and used a 12 or 15 inch cultivator "shovel" I bought from a mail order farm store for $15. Put it on my one row cultivator. Made a deep--8-10 inch-- groove in my prepared soil and had some high school kids plant the trees and stomp dirt on top. Didn't lose a seedling.
A relative of mine does a lot of trees and recently tried this approach and liked it.

[keving]

I don't like those PHDs. I injured myself using one of these when it hit a rock. I tweaked my back and shoulder. IMO, I'd get one that fits on the tractor...save yourself!

[john_bud]

1000 trees? that's it??

Shovel and a bucket. You can do 1000 trees in 1 long day.

If that's you in the pictures, then I'm 2x your age and 3-4x more out of shape and have done it many times. Just buy a long skinny shovel and jump on it twice, rock it back and forth, pull it out, put the tree in, stomp the ground closed and repeat 999 times. You can do 2 trees a minute for as long as you have trees in your bucket.

[RonMar]

Wear a helmet... When that PHD digs in, it is going to load up those bungies and if they let go or apply too much force, that boom may come down on your head. How deep are you planting these seedlings that they need a PHD anyway? Standard method is as described. Jump Jump, Wiggle Wiggle, Place seedling, stomp and move on to the next one...

[HappyCPE]

I think you need the "OST Planting Bar" here:
Musser Forests, Inc. - Product Info

[Champy]

Actually I surveyed a number of Xmas tree farmers and they recommended using the hand-held power auger approach. Mixes up the soil and provides for better backfill / no air pockets. They also said to avoid using a 3PH PHD because you cannot get the tractor aligned right for every tree or its difficult to use on side hills.

Last year I ran a subsoiler down the rows and then we used a dibble bar to plant them all by hand. Wasn't too bad - my 15 yr old (in the picture) did all the digging. The concern raised by my xmas tree advisors was that a shovel or dibble bar makes a single cut that can root bound the seedlings or leave air pockets, whereas the auger approach allows for the roots to spread out.....although last year I had less than 10% failures.

I'll update on how this works......I may just end up running the auger without the harness approach. If all else fails its back to the dibble bar / planting by hand.


PS - Jon Bud......thats my 15yr old in the picture not me. I'm 50 now and paying for years of racing motorcycles; baseball; skydiving; etc....with a bad back & knees....hence the auger hanging harness idea.

[GT2]

How about hose clamping a " torque rod " (bar or pipe) to one of the handel grips. It would extend out towards the boom pole, then when it twists too far it will hit the boom pole and save your shoulder?

PS, Those skating acc's in the background have anything to do with your injury?

[randyvl]

did you look into a mechanical tree planter?

In Iowa, you can go to the State Forestry office, USDA ag office;DNR Forestry Division, Pheasants Forever, Natl Turkey Federation etc. and either use (no Chge) or rent.

You need a 3 pt tractor and another live body. One drives, the other sits on the seat on the planter. The planter slits/furrows the soil, you drop in your seedlings, the planter real wheels "crimp" the soil around the seedlings

you can plant 400 - 1000 seedlins per hour

A "hole" lot faster than PHD

example:

http://www.iowadnr.com/forestry/pdf/planting.pdf


G5009 Mechanical Tree Planters, MU Extension

[jeff_jeff]

I wondered myself whether there was an advantage to planting with a post hole digger vs. the planting bar - so the first year on the farm, we intermixed rows of 9" PHD holes, with rows of planting bar. It took much longer with the PHD, longer to fill etc. After 5 years, absolutly no difference between the rows, no difference in height or death rate. We now plant wherever we can by planting bar, and only use the PHD if the ground is too hard.