Home Made Tree Planter

[bcp]

I cannot believe you are fighting the idea of a post hole digger...

I recommend you forget the post hole digger and get a tree hole digger. It looks exactly like a post hole digger, but trees go into the hole instead of posts.



Bruce

 

[woodlandfarms]

Thank you bruce. I knew I was suggesting the wrong gear.

 

[California]

get a tree hole digger. It looks exactly like a post hole digger, but trees go into the hole instead of posts.

My neighbor's tree hole auger, note the large diameter.

 

[woodlandfarms]

California,

I would love more pictures of our operation. We over engineered our fruit tree protection (planted a dozen replacement trees) but the CFO wanted metal fencing (1/2" square) so it became, and still is, a megilla. I like the conical shape, we can't mow inside ours at the base as it is so huge...

But I have never had fruit trees until this property so appreciate seeing your systems.

Carl

 

[284 International]

I understand exactly what you are trying to build. I use a large auger as California showed, but if I were going to transplant that many trees, I would look into something like what you are talking about. However, depending on the spacing required, I have seen an extremely simple and effective tool that you could easily construct.

Basically, it is a bar that bolts onto the tractor wheel, that sticks out beyond the tire tread. When the tractor drives forward, the bar pierces the soil and pulls out a cone-shaped plug of dirt. If the bar protrudes only on one side, the spacing is simply the circumference of the tire. I will see if I can find pictures of what I mean. It is very fast, very simple, and, I thought, exceedingly clever for relatively small tree holes. It also avoids the necessity of backfilling furrows or trenches. There is some difficulty starting the rows at the same point, but one can overcome that trouble readily.

Here is a short description of proper commercial orchard preparation according to Dave Wilson Nurseries: DWN: Commercial Catalog: Orchard Planting Guide

They mention troubles with root bound trees following auger hole plantings, but I imagine narrow backhoe trenches would have similar effects.

A small ditch plow like Woodlandfarms posted would work, but you need a way to backfill. Angled discs would fill the trench back in, but would require spade work to excavate each tree hole. Keeping an open trench seems undesirable, and filling the trench in once trees are in place seems more difficult.

Let us know what you do, and show us how it works.

 

[284 International]

I actually found something like what I was talking about: http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/info/pubs/misc/Tree planting attachment for a tractor.pdf

This is the same idea as what I saw, and of the same vintage. The version I have seen was on an old orchardist's tractor. He said he used it with the disk mounted, but lifted, to add more weight to the tires. He said it worked well, but I did not see it operated. His looked fairly wide, perhaps 10 inches up top, but tapering to a blunt point of about 3 inches in width. His looked to protrude about 10-12 inches from the tire, and was quite beefy in construction. He used 1/2" plate with a 3/8" or so backing plate perpendicular to the broad face to add strength. I wish I had seen it in action, or been able to take some photos.

 

[Localmotion]

Nice watering rig California- will remember that for future! On this occasion we are installing drip irrigation to the trees, as we get very little rainfall here and the customer spends a lot of time away from home.

I cannot believe you are fighting the idea of a post hole digger as it is the implement used by most farmers for this.....

Woodlandfarms - what do you mean by most farmers? I assume you mean in the US as here in Europe I have rarely seen or heard of any farmers using a post hole auger to plant a field.... It must take ages!!!

If you want to use a plow (I have no real idea why when you dealing with a large root ball) you are probably going to want something like a Ditch Plow...

The modified ditch plough is a great idea (although the one in your photo might be a tad too large) :laughing: - I'll look into a bit more - Thanks!

I have used post hole aguars many many times for fencing, and for trees I have always used the excavator. However as I originally said we have 500 trees to plant for a customer this winter, and am looking for a much quicker solution. The customer has specified that they don't want saplings (bare roots), but older trees (with c.30cm roots) as they are wanting an "instant vista" of olive and almonds!!! With Olive trees, a 30cm rootball is still only a relatively small 3-5 year old pot grown tree (most common here as the soil conditions are very poor).

Both the post hole auger / excavator would take about the same amount of time (slow) and an added draw back is that the field will need to be marked out in advance to ensure acurate spacing. If I can plant using a tractor, I can then use a bout marker to provide a guide for my next row, saving a lot of man hours, effort and fuel - meaning it will work MUCH BETTER than an auger!!!!

Plus of course I'll have it ready for the next job ;-)

 

[Localmotion]

I actually found something like what I was talking about: http://www2.dnr.cornell.edu/ext/info/pubs/misc/Tree planting attachment for a tractor.pdf

That's a wonderfully simple solution - will need to calculate the spacing vs the circumfrance of my tractor wheel first though! :thumbsup:

 

[284 International]

?..will need to calculate the spacing vs the circumfrance of my tractor wheel first though!

Or you could make the rig offset, with two spuds for digging, at whatever interval lines up properly. This would leave an unused hole between every tree, but they are easy to fill. It may not be the right solution for you, but the 50-86 is likely heavy enough to drive a tapered spud deep enough to plant a 12" root ball through a disked and leveled field.

 

[California]

... drive a tapered spud deep enough to plant a 12" root ball through a disked and leveled field.

Wouldn't that cause severe compaction around the hole? That Dave Wilson Nursery instruction page mentions trees staying rootbound in an auger-drilled hole, and this sounds even denser.

Also - it seems like blind luck if the tractor tire circumference matches the spacing this customer wants. I can see using that method for planting a windbreak on your own property where spacing isn't critical, but an orchard has to line up on both the X and Y axes so you can cross-disc. How the heck do you get adjacent rows to line up? All I can imagine is jacking up the tractor at the start of each row to rotate its tire to the right point.

I'm sure this can be done, but i sure don't understand how it works.