Tree-mageddon!

WoodChuckDad · May 5, 2016

We are ten hours till Tree-mageddon. My dream of having a commercial Orchard and Cidery will be born tomorrow. At about 10 AM I am to receive the first 385 trees, to be planted this weekend. It is too late in the season, we have had 4 inches of rain in the last two weeks, there is too much debris still on the field, there is still too much root material in the ground, I can't use the tractor and PTO post hole digger because the soil is so wet... the list goes on and on.

We bought our land in August, and I had already hired a forester to market the timber....I'm a babe in the woods....I was naive enough to think that we were going to have a logger in there by September....no dice...as I documented on another thread, We have just had real logging begin about 2 weeks ago, and then the rain started. Before that, I was taking all the trees down for about 3 acres, myself. Now I have almost 3 acres that have been logged and stumped, and another 15-18 acres that have been logged.

I've lost a lot of work time because of the rain. Trees will be here tomorrow...can't wait any longer. Some will die. Some will live. I rented a one man, tow behind auger. I am hoping to get 50 trees in the ground tomorrow. Saturday my wife and kids and some friends will show up and things should really pick up. I know that this will be interesting to people. And I have learned a lot by the documentation that others have put here and elsewhere on the web, so I will take a few pictures and and try to document how it goes. I may be too tired to give a decent update until next week, but I will make sure to drop in at lest briefly each day with a picture and a quick update on how well or poorly we are doing.

EdwardB · May 5, 2016

WoodChuckDad said:
We are ten hours till Tree-mageddon. My dream of having a commercial Orchard and Cidery will be born tomorrow. At about 10 AM I am to receive the first 385 trees, to be planted this weekend. It is too late in the season, we have had 4 inches of rain in the last two weeks, there is too much debris still on the field, there is still too much root material in the ground, I can't use the tractor and PTO post hole digger because the soil is so wet... the list goes on and on. We bought our land in August, and I had already hired a forester to market the timber....I'm a babe in the woods....I was naive enough to think that we were going to have a logger in there by September....no dice...as I documented on another thread, We have just had real logging begin about 2 weeks ago, and then the rain started. Before that, I was taking all the trees down for about 3 acres, myself. Now I have almost 3 acres that have been logged and stumped, and another 15-18 acres that have been logged. I've lost a lot of work time because of the rain. Trees will be here tomorrow...can't wait any longer. Some will die. Some will live. I rented a one man, tow behind auger. I am hoping to get 50 trees in the ground tomorrow. Saturday my wife and kids and some friends will show up and things should really pick up. I know that this will be interesting to people. And I have learned a lot by the documentation that others have put here and elsewhere on the web, so I will take a few pictures and and try to document how it goes. I may be too tired to give a decent update until next week, but I will make sure to drop in at lest briefly each day with a picture and a quick update on how well or poorly we are doing.

Good luck. You'd be surprised how hardy your trees will be.

Xfaxman · May 5, 2016

:thumbsup: Watching and waiting. Good luck.

newbury · May 6, 2016

How big are the trees?

Ed of all trades · May 6, 2016

With the roots you will get there faster with a backhoe. I am afraid the auger is going to have a hard time. I hope I am wrong and it works well. Ed

Egon · May 6, 2016

A small tracked hoe might also work??

WoodChuckDad · May 6, 2016

I didn't get to start digging until 2 PM. I planted 33 trees today...worked till about 8:45. It is wet Terribly wet.

Tomorrow my wife and kids will be out there. I will be busting my butt and so will they....I crack a mean whip. I'm hoping for 200.....150 would really thrill me. The trees will last a week if I need them to and I have a little shed near the pond that I can put them in if I have to. That hardest part was pulling that auger uphill every other row.

fishheadbob · May 7, 2016

Looks good. I like that you took the simple step of using a long string to keep things in a straight line; too many folks will "eyeball" a line which can later result in all sorts of mowing problems.
When I die and go to my reward the devil will give me an auger to use. Those things are miserable to work with; even the 3-point ones I've had are only marginally better than a good shovel and strong back.
What are your plans for ground cover in your orchard ? And for deer control ? There is a variety of fescue (can't recall which, sorry) that won't spread much, leaving you with cleaner rows using less herbicide. And you know that some cold winter nights the deer are going to fall all over each other to prune any of next year's buds off your young trees. Consider taking steps later to keep the varmints honest.
Again, nice project you've got going.

WoodChuckDad · May 7, 2016

Thanks, fishheadbob. I used a string and walked down the line and marked the spot under the string with a paint marker and that is where I dug. When I finished marking, I would move the the string line 4 boot lengths to the side so It wasn't in the way, but it still provides a good visual.
The auger works...still have to contend with roots, but it works faster than a shovel. Dragging it up the slope thru that mud was a beast. My lower back was killing me. I have 2 17year old boys to held drag it around today. As for the deer, I intend to put up a fence....I'm approaching it in a couple ways. First I'm putting up an electric fence around this field, Then I am going to Put a tall fence around the entire orchard, with electric wire.