Equipment

There are a wide variety of tools available for hand planting.

• Dibbles are tools that force a container size hole in the ground without removing any soil.
• Mattocks, Hoedads, tree planting bars, and tree planting hoes were developed for various soil types for planting conifer stock in a reforestation situation. I don't think any of these tools would make a wide enough or big enough slot for a lot of the hardwood stock we are working with. Most of the blades are only about 3 inches wide.
• Tree planting spades and shovels have a straight blade 5 inches or 6 inches wide and 12 inches to 16 inches deep. Most hardware stores have tools called tile spades or post hole shovels that have the straight, narrow, and deep blade that are similar. A standard shovel can also get the job done, and probably is the most common tool used in our situations.
• Tree planting augers that make a 4-inch or 6-inch hole and operate off a chainsaw engine are available. They are expensive and probably not needed on prepared sites; but when getting root systems planted deep is a problem, they provide one solution.

Tree planting machines are the fastest way to plant a lot of trees. There are several different ones around the state, and I cannot tell you which ones are best.

They are manufactured all over the country, usually in small machine shops and have a variety of features.

The basic idea is the pointed shear to open the planting furrow. This should be able to operate at least 12 inches deep. Three-point or pull types are available. There should be packing wheels on the back. Single-seated or double-seated models are available. The double-seated ones have a real advantage when planting a close-spaced row of shrubs. It may even be impossible for some tractors to move slowly enough for a single planter to do a good job when spacing is close.

Maintenance and adjustment is very important in making any planter work properly. The point on the shear needs replacement at times just to stay in the ground. The depth and angle has to be worked out every time a different tractor is used. The packing wheels may need adjustment for different planting conditions.

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Last Modified: 07/05/2007