Planted oaks today.., TSC county line auger is awesome...

[oosik]

cavjock - in that rocky soil - I can see how a PTO auger is a God send. I'm wondering - - with your new trees - do you ever have any problems with critters - moles, voles, pocket gophers, etc - eating the roots on you new planted trees??

Whitbread - - 20 to 22 full chords per year. God - somebody spends a lot of their time processing firewood. And I use to think my 4 to 5 full chords were a lot - HA.

 

[prof fate]

i heat with gas - comes in a pipe from the utility company. easy peasy.

Did the oil thing once..sucked. propane if I had to choose.

Wood? Hells no. Way too much work.

 

[atsah]

I heat with wood and I use about 300 gallons of propane.

 

[Cavjock22]

cavjock - in that rocky soil - I can see how a PTO auger is a God send. I'm wondering - - with your new trees - do you ever have any problems with critters - moles, voles, pocket gophers, etc - eating the roots on you new planted trees??

Never have had a problem with critters digging/eating roots., Im pretty sure I don’t have any of the crirrers you listed., Just hogs, deere, badgers, coons, yotes, and bobcats

Whitbread - - 20 to 22 full chords per year. God - somebody spends a lot of their time processing firewood. And I use to think my 4 to 5 full chords were a lot - HA.

Never have had a problem with critters digging/eating roots., Im pretty sure I don’t have any of the crirrers you listed., Just hogs, deere, badgers, coons, yotes, and bobcats

 

[oosik]

You - Cavjock - are truly fortunate. Over the 37 years out here - we have lost roughly half of our new plantings to pocket gophers. Now - I realize it was mainly our own fault. We would dig a big hole and line it - wall to wall - with a 2" thick layer of broken glass. Idea being - hold back the gophers until the tree became established. For reasons unknown - it sometimes worked.

We had never heard of the heavy wire gopher baskets. We probably would have a few more trees if those thing were used.

We have most everything you listed - except, thank God, the hogs and we have mountain lions/cougars to replace your bob cats. And just in the last 3 to 4 years we are beginning to see timber wolves in the area.

 

[Alan W.]

Bought a PHD in 89 lightly used at an estate sale, very weathered. No name on it. Dad was putting in a pool and needed to pour a retaining wall on two sides. Ground was a fused rock clay mixture. Idea was to dig holes for piers and form on top for wall. Started out fairly good but by the third hole digger was at a standstill, rotating but no digging. Auger point looked like it had been in a pencil sharpener, the cutters had wore away and allowed the flighting to start wearing smaller in diameter. Purchased new parts, hardfaced everything, drilled about 20 more holes no problem. Everything still good to this day. Original parts must have been soft.

 

[big bubba]

OP:
going back to your original post, yes the PHD is a convenient way to plant small trees, esp bare root. before the roots spread laterally, i recommend drilling holes about 12" (maybe more it they are container grown) around the circumference of each tree. maybe work some nutrient or compost etc in as well.
this will greatly promote lateral root growth, and improve moisture retention. not a big task looking at your images. Your soil looks like hard pan.
Hopefully, you will be able to irrigate.

also, this spiral wrap will prevent buck rubs, very destructive @ this time of year i put them on late Aug- late April (in my area)
best of luck
Spiral Tree Guards | Spiral Tree Wrap | Tree Bark Protectors

 

[Whitbread]

i heat with gas - comes in a pipe from the utility company. easy peasy.

Did the oil thing once..sucked. propane if I had to choose.

Wood? Hells no. Way too much work.

I have natural gas, however I'm approximately $1k/mo in the cold months to heat the house to low 60s and shop to 55F when its below 15F out. I much prefer chopping some wood to keep the house and shop 68F.

Whitbread - - 20 to 22 full chords per year. God - somebody spends a lot of their time processing firewood. And I use to think my 4 to 5 full chords were a lot - HA.

It's really not that bad at all, I always have at least one if not 2 helpers. If I was hand splitting, didnt have a 4wd atv to skid smaller logs, didn't have tractor with boom pole and log tongs, super split, truck/trailer, etc, it would be a very different story. Luckily I've accumulated the equipment over the years to make the process much less labor intensive. I don't miss the days of nothing but a pickup truck, one saw, and a splitting axe .

 

[YLee Kioti]

I have used an auger a lot over the years on an older 32hp tractor. My son tried to use the same auger on his 26hp. He let it hit a large rock, bent his top link, bent the frame on the auger and I think he thought it was going to turn the tractor over. Auger is a great tool, when used right. A friend got his shirt in one and almost lost his arm and his life. Use it with a little care.

This can never be over emphasized enough !!!!

One of my fellow church going buds had his own business. In the winter got his carhartt caught. Yes he did.
Arm came off at the shoulder. Bled out before he could open door to his truck.
The imagery alone and once I learned who it was hurt me deeply.

I treat implements like I do 13.8Kv circuit. Lots of respect and proper fear of the consequences.

 

[prof fate]

Tme to make some changes to the house or furnace then.

When I moved in, back in 99, had an old gas forced water plus the addition had elec baseboard. Gas was budget at 420 a month, plus 90 for elec..changed out the elec to water baseboard before the first winter.
Insulated the house (blow in..$1100 total, contractor did it in a few hours) then replaced that furnace with an elec boiler - no more gas bill at all (everything else elec) and elec was 260/mo budget. BIG savings.
Converted the detached garage to an office, elec forced air (14k watts). Keep it at 55 unless i'm working. Has a/c also.

Then it died..moved to a 98% eff forced gas w/ heat pump for main house and a mini split for the addition (no way to get ducts there). Now gas bill is 700 a year (not on budget) and elect (again, not on budget) is low of 110 in the summer (we have a/c now) Elec at the most is 320 (jan or feb). So way cheaper. tempted to tweak the heat pump to come on at 40 something instead of 37.

So that's running THREE furnaces and A/C units - 1350 sf 1930s frame home and 700 sf block garage. Maybe 3500 a year..300/mo. MUCH less than 20 years ago and i've added 30% to the space plus a/c.

The mini split is an LG - you can buy them online for $1500 or less, pure heatpump in mine and it kicks out heat to subzero temps. Runs on I think a 30 amp 220 circuit.

I have natural gas, however I'm approximately $1k/mo in the cold months to heat the house to low 60s and shop to 55F when its below 15F out. I much prefer chopping some wood to keep the house and shop 68F.

It's really not that bad at all, I always have at least one if not 2 helpers. If I was hand splitting, didnt have a 4wd atv to skid smaller logs, didn't have tractor with boom pole and log tongs, super split, truck/trailer, etc, it would be a very different story. Luckily I've accumulated the equipment over the years to make the process much less labor intensive. I don't miss the days of nothing but a pickup truck, one saw, and a splitting axe ��.