Tree Spades

[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.