Tree spade build

[suncoast]

Hi everyone. I have a palm tree nursery and farm. Our trees have become to a size that our Dynamite Digger is far from the effecient way to be extracted. A backhoe is not really feasible due to the root structure of Palm trees. We really need to have a treespade. New units are outrageous and used ones are one dig from collapse as people seem to either keep them forever or sell them next to new with a price near new.
I am hoping someone here has built a spade before and possibly has build diagrams and part specs. I would sincerely appreciate any help on this.
Thank you, Gene ODonnell

 

[stuckmotor]

Do you want to build the kind with multiple spades that are driven toward one another until they meet and then lift the tree or the single spade kind that goes on a skid steer?

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I will be watching this post as I am also needing to build a spade to attach to my BX QH FEL adapter I am building now. I need to replant 100 small fir tree saplings. Need to dig the new hole and dig the tree and place in the prepared hole.

Ron

 

[sixdogs]

I have a tree "shovel" that is just a big pointed scoop that normally is used on a skid steer. I use on a tractor and it's a cheap way to transplant trees. it's not as exact as a tree "spade" that has multiple digging blades but I can do a lot in a hurry and no big investment or storage issues. Plus I can scoop up big rocks or other things easily.

A tree spade takes two people to use if you want exact digs or you have to keep hopping off the tractor to cut roots or guestimate where the thing is centered on the tree. In a perfect world I would like one but after the few trees are dug it's just a giant dust bunny.

Here is mine. The green thing next to it is an adaptor to go from Deere quick attach to SSQA that the shovel is.

 

[suncoast]

Due to the size of our trees we would need a multiple blade hydraulic spade. I think a 4 blade unit should be good. I'm concerned that a shovel type would not give support around the entire base. The trees are up to 16 - 18' tall with fronds that approach 10' long. We need to dig a fairly good size root ball. If a root is cut on most types of palms it dies completely back to the base of the tree. The difficult part of designing a tree spade I believe is figuring the dimensions and vertical bend angles / placement of the blades and the angle in which they operate. Also consideration needs to be given to the frame dimensions for lactation of the blades when retracted. The blades need to close to the point of touching each other when closed. Too much angle on the blades and a far too shallow root ball results and cuts the majority of the roots. If the angle is too steep the unit might have to dig 10' deep before the blades close.
I have a nice metal shop setup and have built several attachments / implements for my tractor and items used for our growing operation. ( I do enjoy metalworking ). As I said, new tree spades are mind-numbing expensive and second hand units are hard to come by and usually very broken down.
I've wondered if an Autocad program (I don't have one) could do this in knowledgeable hands.

 

[sixdogs]

If you build one, know that the steel of the blades is that special high tensile stuff that takes special equipment to bend. I'll bet you could buy a big spade in the Midwest or north central US and haul it back cheaper than you could build one. I see them for sale. For that size tree you're going to need a serious root ball, perhaps even a spade mounted on a truck.

 

[City Farmer]

I agree with 6dogs. As much as I like building things in my shop, I'd probably make a 2 day road trip and get one out of state. They usually go $4k-$6k around here. There's a 44" Vermeer with a truck on CL for $6k and a few 3ph 36" for $4k.

Tree Spade 44

tree spade

 

[franklinute]

Suncoast what rootball sizes do you need to dig? I grow and harvest
trees for a living. I dig my own plants and I will travel to dig for other
growers. I own approx 10 spades from 18" to 80" of several different
brands. You are correct the machines are expensive but the machines
are built better than in years past. If you are harvesting a large volume
of plants then newer machines can really increase daily production IMO.

 

[teg]

on our craig's list today $2500 and $1500;

View attachment 479151View attachment 479150

 

[hawkeye08]

I have a tree "shovel" that is just a big pointed scoop that normally is used on a skid steer. I use on a tractor and it's a cheap way to transplant trees. it's not as exact as a tree "spade" that has multiple digging blades but I can do a lot in a hurry and no big investment or storage issues. Plus I can scoop up big rocks or other things easily.

A tree spade takes two people to use if you want exact digs or you have to keep hopping off the tractor to cut roots or guestimate where the thing is centered on the tree. In a perfect world I would like one but after the few trees are dug it's just a giant dust bunny.

Here is mine. The green thing next to it is an adaptor to go from Deere quick attach to SSQA that the shovel is.

View attachment 478897

Just what I want, I procrastinated too long on the one I saw a couple of years ago on CL. I need to set some $$ aside and periodically check CL and see if I can get one.