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forest garden

Tree Planting Machine

Adrien Lapointe

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Location: Kingston, Canada (USDA zone 5a)

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posted 10 years ago

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Can anybody recommend a tree planting machine that can be pulled behind a tractor?

R Scott

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Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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posted 10 years ago

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Holland transplanter is THE NAME in the US. Not cheap new, they show up on craigslist occasionally for good prices. A zillion options based on how you are planting (bare root, plugs, tubs, etc.) and what kind of ground (no-till to fully tilled market garden soil).
http://www.transplanter.com/

I am in the process of building one based on my basic subsoiler, but for now I run the subsoiler on contour for the row of trees then plant by hand. The subsoil slice makes it much easier.

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Chris Watson

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posted 10 years ago

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I'd recommend a cadre of idealistic college students. Vegans are best. They're very economical; just fill them up with quinoa and sprouts – maybe a little Jerusalem artichoke. And give them some beer when they're done. If you're especially thrifty, use homebrew.

Adrien Lapointe

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posted 10 years ago

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These seem to be mostly vegetable transplanter, the tree planter I have seen where slightly different.

R Scott

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Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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Mainly, yes. They do have a few tree transplanters, mostly for Christmas tree farms.

There are also a lot of DIY plans on youtube and the net. What kind of trees and ground are you looking at? Maybe I can remember where I saw them. I know Versaland has a couple short videos, and the ag school that is trying Mark Shepard's techniques (was it Illinois?) does too.

Adrien Lapointe

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yup, those are the ones I am thinking of, but I have no idea what company manufactures them.

R Scott

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Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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I am pretty sure both of those are hacks--big coulters and subsoiler or chisel points mounted in front of OLD low-end (not auto-drop) vegetable transplanters.

mechanicaltransplanter.com is the other company online I can think of. Both they and Holland can option out a transplanter to deal with no-till and trees of a certain kind, but they get tricky if you want to plant different types of trees or different styles (tubes vs. bare root). Both will be several thousand new. You can find used transplanters for a few hundred on CL and a few hundred more to upgrade it to tree-duty.

Adrien Lapointe

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Posts: 3722

Location: Kingston, Canada (USDA zone 5a)

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