Help with soil prep for tree planting.

forgeblast · Mar 20, 2012

Rick is that called a dibble bar? I have used those on pines that were a year old.

mysteryman896 · Mar 20, 2012

thanks for the tip and info Rick. I will have to see if i can get away with this method. I think the soil in most of the areas are going to be too dark for that but I could be wrong.

Fossil Farm · Mar 20, 2012

Is a post hole digger quickest and best or is something i have sufficient? could i take a scoop out with the backhoe and put it right back in the hole, the run the rototiller through? the trees will be in the 3' overall length upon arrival so im guessing 1.5-2' tree and 1-1.5' of root system.

Are you getting these from a nursery close by? If they are bare root, a dibble bar will work. Typically the height listed is the height of the tree, and does not include the root system. You may have to prune a few roots. Typically with bare root, you do not want to fertilize for a few months until the roots get reestablished somewhat.

If they are balled and burlapped, you may want to rent a tree spade or see if the nursery has one you can borrow. 100 trees even with a post hole or backhoe will take a long time. A tree spade is much easier on the back.

If you do use a post hole digger or backhoe, be sure to rough up the sides of the hole if it is wet and smears the sides. Roots will have a tough time growing through a smear - it can act like concrete, not allowing the roots to grow horizontally out of the hole you just dug. Even with a tree spade, you sometimes need to use a shovel to loosen up the sides just a bit. good luck.

Ranger Rick · Mar 20, 2012

forgeblast said:
Rick is that called a dibble bar? I have used those on pines that were a year old.

Yes dibble bars are made for tree planting but I was guessing most of us did not have one and did have a digging bar which works as well or it did for me.
Rick

mysteryman896 · Mar 21, 2012

The trees are from a local nursery, but on their info they have shipping dimensions and thats where I got the 3' from so I assume that does include the root system. with the warm weather we have been having I expect to hear from them that the trees are ready sometime in early April. I might have to do some practicing with both a digging bar and backhoe to see which will work best for the type of soil I have. I will be sure to make sure the sides are rough if i end up using the backhoe. Thanks guys

Michelle K linnane · Mar 24, 2012

I have planted many a tree for my mom when she was alive and depending on the soil and it was seedlings trees or not. We also dug the hole a little deeper and places some fertilizer in the hole then a scope or two a dirt and also peat moss a shove in the bottom of the hole will also help. IF you are planting everything in a row It would good to rototill the soil then dig the holes will be much better for root system.

ahlkey · Mar 24, 2012

I have been planting various tree sizes for many years. Do not use round-up in the spring as it will have an adverse effect on the young tress and killl a large number of them. Roundup is best sprayed in the fall to prepare your site for spring planting but not now when planting. With low number of trees and given the size the planting bar should do fine

qstott · Mar 24, 2012

We planted about 15 acres in the crep program a few years back. I ran over the land with a disc, and then smoothed it. We ran "rows" with a single subsoiler the length of the fields 12 feet apart. The we used the tree spade to set the trees in the subsoiled rows. When the grass and weeds started to grow, I mowed between the rows. After three years the trees were tall enough not be be shaded out by the grasses and weeds.

flusher · Mar 25, 2012

You can rent tree auger rigs from places like Home Depot and dig those 100 holes in a day.

I'd dig a small trench with your TLB and locate the depth of any hardpan layer. This will give you an idea of the depth you need to go with the auger.

Around here we have thousands of acres of orchard. Generally the ground has to be ripped using Cat bulldozers with 4-ft long shanks to break up the hardpan. My neighbor recently planted 8 acres of English walnut after running a big D8 Cat over the field to rip the hardpan.