plastic mulch layer

[cpenn]

I'd like to build a simple plastic mulch layer for my Kubota BX24. Are there any plans out there?

[sweettractors]

You can see pics at Mechanical Transplanters for Vegetables, Strawberries & Tobacco and seeders. Ken Sweet

[BHD]

here is what I made, using the mulch as the basic measurement for the width, but it is "adjustable"

once you get the depth and the angle of the machine it works reasonably well,

I have done about 10 to 12 miles with it,

[BHD]

two more pictures,

this is a nice machine, and works very well,

Tree Planters from Trees Are Us - Products

I have some pictures I took of one that was used near here, one year.


on my mulch machine, look at the third picture on the first frame, and note the tires are set at an angle, so help stretch the mulch out (it does help some),

[SimS]

BHD;

Is there really a baby in that car seat in your third photo? That is fresh air Day Care.

SimS

[BHD]

my Daughter was helping me that day, and that was the easiest way to do the day care, we were only out a few hr that day,

[sweettractors]

Do you use a commercial plug planter or fab one up for planting thru the plastic. Great Job on the layer Ken Sweet

[cpenn]

Thanks BHD. That's what I wanted to see.

[BHD]

Ken I am not sure if your asking me about the plugs but any way this is what we did, and how the tree planters do it here,

what I was using mine for was for mulching trees, and we had planted the trees, and then just ran the plastic over the trees,

the rider job was to mark or cut the mulch at the correct location, and then (think there is a picture of a person finishing the cut and pulling the tree up through the plastic, and placing a land scaping fabric staple at the cut to keep the wind from lifting the mulch,

I found that using a can of the marking paint was better than the cutting,

as if the person is doing the work is off, and many times even tho they only have about 16 to 18" to guess, some helpers were off by 8 to 10 inches, on the trees and then one had a hole and had to recut the opening correctly so I found that by giving the helper a can of marking paint to spray a dot where they perceived the tree to be, was better as most were fairly accurate but many times off, but if the dot was constantly off, it was very easy to find the tree and make a precise hole and pull up the tree and place the staples
(we cut and X at the tree, the fabric wears less on the tree than a single slot),

one other thing is by cutting the slit, every once in a while one will cut the tree off,

(I had this one person help me, and I instructed to take the utility knife and when you pass over the tree, stick the knife in and make a small slit, so I turn around to see on the first tree or to see if ever thing was clicking, we come up to the first tree, and he sicks the knife in the mulch and proceeds to cut a 6 foot long slit. so we tore that piece up and replaced it, and re instructed and it went fairly well.

so I suggest the spray paint, over trying to cut on the fly,. (the thing is he had seen some of the other tree planting that had all ready been done)

on any that needed replanting I made a auger out of a short section of 3" flighting from a old drill fill auger, and used the cordless 1/2 drill to drill and plant the replacement tree, worked well, through the hole in the mulch,

out of the 10+ miles of trees planted I had about 100 to replant mostly to to mice and moles, eating the roots, or stems, the trees I am thinking were ever 15 foot, and on the shrubs were ever 6 foot, the way I am remembering it was about 4000 trees, in the project,

one other thing (nature would have done this in time, but do to the wind we have I would take the tractor and then lift the machine off the ground and use the tractors tires to pack the edges down tight, (just straddling what we had just done),

below are two pictures of the tree planting and the planter I built

[sweettractors]

Ken I am not sure if your asking me about the plugs but any way this is what we did, and how the tree planters do it here,

what I was using mine for was for mulching trees, and we had planted the trees, and then just ran the plastic over the trees,

the rider job was to mark or cut the mulch at the correct location, and then (think there is a picture of a person finishing the cut and pulling the tree up through the plastic, and placing a land scaping fabric staple at the cut to keep the wind from lifting the mulch,

I found that using a can of the marking paint was better than the cutting,

as if the person is doing the work is off, and many times even tho they only have about 16 to 18" to guess, some helpers were off by 8 to 10 inches, on the trees and then one had a hole and had to recut the opening correctly so I found that by giving the helper a can of marking paint to spray a dot where they perceived the tree to be, was better as most were fairly accurate but many times off, but if the dot was constantly off, it was very easy to find the tree and make a precise hole and pull up the tree and place the staples
(we cut and X at the tree, the fabric wears less on the tree than a single slot),

one other thing is by cutting the slit, every once in a while one will cut the tree off,

(I had this one person help me, and I instructed to take the utility knife and when you pass over the tree, stick the knife in and make a small slit, so I turn around to see on the first tree or to see if ever thing was clicking, we come up to the first tree, and he sicks the knife in the mulch and proceeds to cut a 6 foot long slit. so we tore that piece up and replaced it, and re instructed and it went fairly well.

so I suggest the spray paint, over trying to cut on the fly,. (the thing is he had seen some of the other tree planting that had all ready been done)

on any that needed replanting I made a auger out of a short section of 3" flighting from a old drill fill auger, and used the cordless 1/2 drill to drill and plant the replacement tree, worked well, through the hole in the mulch,

out of the 10+ miles of trees planted I had about 100 to replant mostly to to mice and moles, eating the roots, or stems, the trees I am thinking were ever 15 foot, and on the shrubs were ever 6 foot, the way I am remembering it was about 4000 trees, in the project,

one other thing (nature would have done this in time, but do to the wind we have I would take the tractor and then lift the machine off the ground and use the tractors tires to pack the edges down tight, (just straddling what we had just done),

below are two pictures of the tree planting and the planter I built

Now, I understand what you have done. BTW, you are a great fabricator. When I see plastic mulch layed, I just assume there are going to be plants inserted through the plastic to finish the process. This is called a plug planting. Ken Sweet