Alrighty then...it's tree and shrub planting day. This will be no big deal for many of you, but I wanna share the experience for the few of us left over that never did it. You know, guys like me.
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A quick review of the plan (from page 1 of this thread)
- Line each side of the 600 feet of entrance driveway (open, across a meadow) with American Plum and Hazelnut shrubs. Fill in the balance of the open meadow with Norway Spruce.
- Plant a 250 ft long shelterbelt across the other 1.75 ac meadow. The shelterbelt will be 3 rows of Norway Spruce and 1 - 2 rows of Chokeberry. The balance of this meadow will remain in native grasses and wildflowers.
- The area below the back side of the pond dam + 2 pockets around the pond perimeter will be planted with a random mix of Redozier Dogwood, Silky Dogwood, Nannyberry, Ninebark, and Spicebush.
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I ran down all 1200 seedlings this last weekend to the guy we hired to plant them. He likes to prune the roots before he takes them to the job. Today (2 days later) he tows his tractor and planter to the job. I insisted on joining him. He encouraged me to do so; eliminates misunderstandings on
what goes where.
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I have never seen a tree/shrub planter. Pretty simple; pretty slick. The planter unit hangs off the back of the tractor. The entire implement is raised and lowered hydraulically by the tractor driver.
One guy drives the tractor and one guy sits in that black bucket seat at the back of he planter. They load up the boxes with the seedling stock. He keeps it moist with gobs of humus and peat packed around the roots.
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This is the business end of the planter.
For ref, the planter bucket seat is upper left corner of pic. This pic shows the planter elevated in the transport position (how they would travel between rows). The round disc spins freely (like a big pizza cutter). When the planter is cutting soil, the implement is lowered so the disc is in the soil about 10" (the skid plates at the center of the disc is about 2-3" off the ground). The disc cuts a slit in the soil. The square'ish metal mass behind the disc is the same width as the disc where it meets the disc. It widens at the other end to open up the slit.
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We slip around the back of the planter and look at the same steel wedge that widens the soil slit.
The guy planting the trees sits in the seat (very upper left corner of pic) and manually reaches down and places the seedling into the furrow created by the split wedge. He's moving deftly and quickly cuz the rubber tires (which spin freely) push both sides of the widened furrow back together and packs the soil back down where it started, around the newly placed seedling. Very cool, very simple, very effective.
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Here it is, ready to rock. The planter is elevated and ready to plunge into the soil and begin a row.
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And away they go...
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They planted all 1200 seedlings in about 3 hours...and this planting job was a lot of non-productive backing into and turning around in small areas. Watching how simple it is with the right equipment sure beats hand planting...hands down.
