Tree-mageddon!

[WoodChuckDad]

So on Friday, when I got there, it was raining. Trees were delivered and onsite by 10. Somehow, I drove the truck, towing the auger, and loaded down with 37 bags of lime, out to the field, unloaded the pallet, and drove back of without getting stuck., although it did float from side to side a bit and made some good ruts. I didn't take any pictures the first day, but I did get a few Saturday afternoon and some today. On Saturday we were using the mud puddles to soak the roots before putting the trees in. It is amazing how fast some of the field dried out today, and how hard the ground gets when it does dry out. I'm really looking forward to when we have the terrain smoothed out a bit and some grass growing. I know it looks terrible, but I really feel great about how much we got done. Hoping for mild weather this week so we can get the rest of them in next weekend.
My daughter came out today with my granddaughter and took some pictures as well She is a much better photographer than I am .

 

[MossRoad]

How in God's name did you plant 2150 trees? I can't imagine.

I didn't. The consulting forester did. He used a 3pt hitch tree planter on the back of a tractor. In a nutshell, the tree planter has a slitter wheel that opens the soil, a human in a chair facing backwards that drops the bare root trees between their legs into the slit, two wheels that close the slit around the tree trunk, and two sprayer heads that side spray the ground with herbicide to prevent weeds for a few months. There's a sensor on a wheel that can be adjusted for how many feet apart you want the trees to be planted and it sounds a horn every time the human is supposed to drop in a tree. It took two people (one driving and one planting) about 4 hours to plant 2150 trees and shrubs. The plants ranged anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet in height. Don't think it would work for fruit trees of the size you purchased.

 

[Furu]

I can relate and sympathize with you.
I did 3100 bare root Douglas-fir Western red cedar and Ponderosa pine this year (mid-Feb-early April) and I am considered slow. Of course I also have a full time job so I did it on days off. Can't wait to retire.

 

[ultrarunner]

I didn't. The consulting forester did. He used a 3pt hitch tree planter on the back of a tractor. In a nutshell, the tree planter has a slitter wheel that opens the soil, a human in a chair facing backwards that drops the bare root trees between their legs into the slit, two wheels that close the slit around the tree trunk, and two sprayer heads that side spray the ground with herbicide to prevent weeds for a few months. There's a sensor on a wheel that can be adjusted for how many feet apart you want the trees to be planted and it sounds a horn every time the human is supposed to drop in a tree. It took two people (one driving and one planting) about 4 hours to plant 2150 trees and shrubs. The plants ranged anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet in height. Don't think it would work for fruit trees of the size you purchased.

Fascinating... would be interesting to see.

We just planted a couple of hundred future Christmas trees... nothing fast about it.

 

[aczlan]

The plants ranged anywhere from 1 foot to 5 feet in height. Don't think it would work for fruit trees of the size you purchased.

I have a friend who put in about 23,000 apple trees this spring with a crew using a machine much like the one you describe.

Aaron Z

 

[bcp]

Tree planter attachment.

Bruce

 

[WoodChuckDad]

That thing is cool. Also looks a little sketchy. I wonder if you can get your hand caught in the tires.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's one planting apple trees.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Those trees are decidedly smaller than what I was planting. But I may look into something along those lines for the future, when we start grafting our own trees.

 

[MossRoad]

Have you thought about planting staggered-age trees in the future? By that, I mean, for example, an acre of several year old trees, an acre of 3 years olds, an acre of 2 year olds, etc...? The older trees will get you fruit sooner, but are harder to plant and maintain. The youngers can be planted more efficiently and will cost quite a bit less to purchse. You'll also have lower replacement costs if a percentage of them don't take the first year. Having a smaller "crop" of mature trees for a couple years could possibly ease you into your maintenance, pest control and harvest and let you develop your own personalized best practices on a smaller scale VS a huge orchard all at once where one crisis (think bad logger, rain-out, insects, fungus, etc...) effects the entire operation. It could be a way to lessen possible brain and emotion overload if Mr. Murphy gets a hankering for apples.