Tree Spades

[MapleLeafFarmer]

hello... does anyone have any first hand wisdom or experience (or recommendations) for a tree spade for a utility tractor?

I have a small Kubota (L3301) with backhoe, snowblower, front loader, grapple, pallet forks, etc... and would like to see if there exists a v.g. quality small tree spade that would be suitable. I live on an acreage in a pine tree forest and my soil type is almost 90% sand down at least 4 meters with rocks / stone being very very rare. Would like to move some smaller (1 meter high) pine trees closer in as pine beetles have really laid waste to a lot of trees in our area.

thanks in advance

 

[i7win7]

BaumaLight - Nomad Tree Spades

stump bucket may also work for small trees/seedlings

 

[zoedog2012]

I bought a small Vermeer spade at an online auction, used it twice and broke my rear tail lights both times. Sold it at an auction for 900 more than I paid for it. First time I ever came out ahead on anything.

 

[RSR]

Hopefully Jeff will pipe up at some point. He is an enthusiastic proponent of tree spades. Or, you can look up his posts (Jeff9366).

 

[Industrial Toys]

I want to get one, but in this rocky soil, I am told they are ineffective. I wish I could remember all the details. I investigated them a year or so ago. There was just one negative aspect to them and the trasnplanting of trees, after another.

 

[jeff9366]

Hopefully Jeff will pipe up at some point. He is an enthusiastic proponent of tree spades.

I owned a 36" length SSQA tree spade but found it too much for my 3,700 pound bare weight tractor with 37-horsepower. Bought it, tried it, sold it thirty days after arrival. Tractor requires SSQA {{Skid Steer Quick Attach}} FEL coupler for every tree spade I have seen marketed.

MORE: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...ylee-root-ripper-stump-bucket.html?highlight=


I have a 18" wide X 22" length (operating dimensions) clamp-on bucket spade from Bucket Solutions that would work well on your 2,700 pound bare tractor weight Kubota L, used with prudence. There are lighter, shorter bucket spades you should research and consider before purchasing the 100 pound model I have. The Bucket Solutions bucket spade is best on 3,500 to 5,000 pound bare weight tractors.

MORE: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/328798-bucket-spade-today-fel-bucket.html?highlight=


PHOTO: Bucket Spade on Kubota B3300SU, one of my previous tractors. Kubota B was significantly lighter than your Kubota L.

 

[big bubba]

how many plantings? use backhoe

 

[Redlands Okie]

L3560 Kubota here and often use a stump bucket for removing trees and occasionally transplanting trees or shrubs. Quite a bit of red clay in this area, not usually run into rocks. Personally I find it a great tool. If the ground is really hard I will sometimes run a water hose or drain out a barrel of water around the transplant the day before. It’s helpful to come at the hole from several directions. Only thing I can warn you about is to keep all four tires on the ground at all times. It’s tempting to lift the front end of the tractor up when sticking the bucket into the ground. Then prying down on the bucket using the weight from the front of the tractor to get more leverage. Easy was to pop a hydraulic hose.

I would be very careful about trying to use a spade that bolts onto the front bucket, would be easy to bend the bucket lip I would think.

Put the bucket on a skid steer and get ready to to be impressed.

The tractor in the link is actually mine


Construction Attachments Worx Stump Bucket

 

[mikester]

For your tractor a small spade bucket will work. You will need a much bigger machine for a SSQA hydraulic spade.

 

[jeff9366]

TREE SPADE IN T-B-N ARCHIVE: https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/426118-can-my-tractor-handle-tree.html

 

[Diggin It]

hello... does anyone have any first hand wisdom or experience (or recommendations) for a tree spade for a utility tractor?

I have a small Kubota (L3301) with backhoe, ... pallet forks, etc...

my soil type is almost 90% sand

how many plantings? use backhoe

Duh! You have a Hoe, why do you need a smaller, less capable shovel?


With all sand, you may be able to pluck small ones out (and maybe even dig small holes) with the fork tips.

 

[fishheadbob]

I had a Caretree spade for a few years running off the tractors hydraulics. We picked it up used but in like new condition for maybe $4000, then sold it a few years later for $4000, not in like new condition. Caretrees, Vermeers, Big Johns, and so forth are commercial used mostly for digging B and B trees which means a few hundred pounds of root ball. If they're only a meter or so you could probably hand dig a bunch using burlap and small wire baskets until your back says "Enough !!".
Thinking more about it, I might not even wire basket a 1 meter tree if it was going immediately into the ground. Dig some holes where you want to move the trees, use a shovel to get the trees and as many roots as you can roots out, then move them to your new spot. Water them heavily for at least a year, yes a year, except when the ground is frozen.

 

[ns_in_tex]

When we cleared some pine forest for my son's new home, many years ago, I learned something.
He had deep sand. Unlike if you have clay near the top, the tap root got larger underground than the trunk was above ground. Some of them, we had to dig down about 8', till it got small enough that we could then break the tap root off, to remove the tree.