Planting 40 Norway Spruce 5' - 6'

[WinterDeere]

Sounds like an excellent excuse to buy a backhoe. Like a loader, once you own one you will wonder how you got along without a backhoe.

Believe me, I've considered it. Buying it is not the problem, but storing it is. I don't like to leave equipment outdoors, and I have too many other projects at the moment to think about building/buying a shed for a backhoe. Perhaps in the future.

Just wondering here. You are planting on the other property with the current owners permission. What is to say the future owners when the lot is developed will not come in and cut down the trees?

It is a possibility. We're gambling on the notion that anyone moving into that property is looking for a little privacy, as it's a well-hidden flag lot. If they cut down those trees, they'll be looking at the back of my house, and I at the front of theirs, and we're assuming/hoping anyone buying that lot is doing so because it is so secluded. Still a gamble...

All I'll request of the new owners is that, if they want those trees gone, they give me the chance to move them, before cutting.

rent this guy for a few hrs. couldnt be more than a couple hundred bucks.

I'm going to have to see if anyone rents one locally! I didn't know a Dingo could turn a bit that big.

 

[WinterDeere]

Okay, guys, here's what I found locally:

7000 lb. skidsteer with 36" auger: $295/day + $110 trailer
2 ton excavator: $225/day + $110 trailer
1 ton excavator: $185/day + $77 trailer
Terramite w/hoe: $195/day + $110 trailer
2 ton tractor w/hoe: $215/day + $110 trailer
3.5 ton tractor w/hoe: $230/day + $110 trailer

There are many other options, but these seemed the most applicable. The primary questions are auger vs. hoe, and if hoe, then skidsteer vs. tractor. Seems a tractor would be much friendlier on my lawn. Also, all of their tractors also have FEL's, so I could use that for moving trees (although I can also use the FEL on my 855).

Seeing as all the prices are roughly similar, price is not a factor. Speed and ease are the primary factors, and on those terms, I have to assume the 36" auger wins. No?

 

[schmism]

Seeing as all the prices are roughly similar, price is not a factor. Speed and ease are the primary factors, and on those terms, I have to assume the 36" auger wins. No?

yes, just dont drill that suck into the ground!

 

[leonz]

Okay, guys, here's what I found locally:

7000 lb. skidsteer with 36" auger: $295/day + $110 trailer
2 ton excavator: $225/day + $110 trailer
1 ton excavator: $185/day + $77 trailer
Terramite w/hoe: $195/day + $110 trailer
2 ton tractor w/hoe: $215/day + $110 trailer
3.5 ton tractor w/hoe: $230/day + $110 trailer

There are many other options, but these seemed the most applicable. The primary questions are auger vs. hoe, and if hoe, then skidsteer vs. tractor. Seems a tractor would be much friendlier on my lawn. Also, all of their tractors also have FEL's, so I could use that for moving trees (although I can also use the FEL on my 855).

Seeing as all the prices are roughly similar, price is not a factor. Speed and ease are the primary factors, and on those terms, I have to assume the 36" auger wins. No?

The auger will let you plant directly where you want to park the tree with a paint hash mark, but if the property changes hands you risk losing your privacy UNLESS you have written legal contract with the original owner that states that the trees are not to be removed unless it is done by you AS you planted them. The thing is that by that time you will have move these trees with a Vermeer truck mounted transplanting spade and they will be much larger amd more prone to shock from transplanting.

In most cases a builder will plant trees or install a barrier fence at the neighbors request to create a screen.

If your going to go through all this I would purrchase a couple of hundred potted seedling transplants from Musser and plant them on your property as you risk losing the trees you wish to plant anyway if the neighbor is a jerk or an
P)_(*&^%$%^&*. The thing is the builder should be doing this really in most cases as the construction phase is considered a nuisance.

 

[WinterDeere]

Thanks for the advice, but this is a private lot for sale, not a development. The current owner cleared it and ran a driveway back, to make it more saleable after it sat "unimproved" without selling for a year or two. No way, no how, is that current owner going to sign any contract that puts any sort of constraint (falsely perceived or real) on a new owner... he's having enough trouble selling now. I'm lucky he's willing to let me put the trees on his property, as I'd rather not have them on mine.

If the new neighbor turns out to be a jerk, I'll have bigger problems than a few spruce trees.

Not sure how I'd get whatever builder the future owner hires to plant trees at my request, but I'm all ears! What do you know?

 

[edlegault]

Plant them right down the property line??? Like a common fence. Then they belong to both property owners.

 

[mjncad]

Dang...how about planting those trees on my property? Quite frankly there is no way I'd go to the effort and expense of putting in that many trees on someone else's property. If you can, put them on your property or at least on the property line. I know you said you really don't want them on your property; but I sure wouldn't gamble on some fickle future owner keeping them.

OK, all kidding aside. My local Home Despot has these to rent on occasion. You might see if yours does too.

Boxer 526DX Mini Skid Steer System rental from Home Depot Tool Rental

 

[Carl_NH]

Winterdeere,

I planted 25 6-7' norway spruce and serbian spruce 3 years ago - I have a BH so I predug holes in advance of the delivery over a few weeks then at delivery placed each tree at the edge of the hole.

Took two of us 3 days to plant all of them. As others have said, I also would not plant trees on another lot - plant on your land. If you must plant on that land, then do so once a new owner arrives and you have agreement - and you buy the trees and when the machines are there doing the house foundation have them dig the holes where you and the new owner agree.

Depending on your soil type (PA is clay/some rocks usually) a auger is good, if a lot of rock go with the BH option.

The other thing is you can get 6-7 or even 8-9' in a few years when there is a new owner and still achieve the same objective.

Last, plant about 12-15' apart and stagger or offset the trees - they will grow together eventually.

Good luck and happy planting.

Carl

 

[jimgerken]

A couple more things have come to mind, based on my own and friends' experience. First, get the premission in writing before proceeding. A good friend of mine strayed onto his neighbors' lot accidently when selectivley cutting buckthorn, a Minnesota-state registered noxious plant. At first the owners were OK with the idea my friend had cleared the weeds out. Later, in court, he was forced to pay them thousands of dollars. True story.
Second, anything you agree to, even in writing, will not be enforceable once the property changes hands and the new deed has been filed. I bought a farm and was instructed to leave certain features without change. I agreed, knowing the request is unenforceable beyond the sale.
Third, stay on your own property. I once built a nice cedar split rail fence for my parents. They had gotten agreement from the neighbors where it should go to continue to allow the kids to have a sliding hill in winter. so the fence followed the slope, straight down the hill, beside the sliding area, even though it meant that to put it there, I had to put some of the fence on my parents land, and some crossed over to the neighbors land. It looked perfect once finished, and allowed the egress and sliding that everyone desired. Soon however, one neighbor had a survey done and they demanded we move the fence. We did so, and their access and sliding ceased because its tough to slide a sled thru a fence halfway down the hill. You see, they ruined the sledding hill idea for their kids, just to make a point about the fence being across the property line. People are ignorant, selfish, and mean at times.
I agree with others above. If you are going to plant trees, put them on your own land. Dig really close to the line if you want, but make sure the trunk is on your land. The new owners will have the right to prune your trees back to the property line and really scalp them up ugly if they wish to, but you wont see that side of the tree, they will. If the tree is on their side, they can cut it, nothing you can do today to gaurantee otherwise.
I am not a lawyer, (maybe you need one) but have paid their price a couple times for similar education. Good luck to ya.
BTW, I was always taught NOT to use an auger for trees. It makes a hole that is smooth and hard and encourages the roots to stay inside that hard area, especially if you water them, and the roots get all balled up and never spread normally. I would prefer a rough open hole like a backhoe digs. On your own side of the property line of course.

 

[City Farmer]

I'd plant smaller 2' trees and just use a 12" PH auger to install them. Mow and rip a path to loosen up the soil. You could do 40 small in a day with a little help. I'm sure you know that Norwegian spruce grow really fast, I'd bet thats why your using them. On average they grow 2-3'/yr. for the first 25 and in some years with help and perfect conditions will grow 6' in one year. Plant small, fertilize with some horse tea a few times & mulch. If you get them in early enough you wont have to do anything with them. Save your money just in case something goes wrong with the new property owner, sit back and watch them grow.