Design of Auger Trolley

I’m planning on doing a fairly large (1000+) planting of trees in the spring of 2024 which means that this coming winter an equal number of holes will be dug.  I purchased a one-man 6” auger for the job, but am thinking about making a trolley of some sorts to make it easier and safer to use the auger. I was wondering if anyone else has made one and if they have any tips or tricks for the design.

For example, most of the auger trolleys I’ve seen look like the one below with just a single wheel, but it would seem that by adding the second wheel the wheels and auger together would be stable enough for the rig to stand up by itself when not in use. But there might be some reason why a single wheel design is typical.

The kind I've seen which made a lot of sense to me is a counterbalanced style.  Then the weight of the engine is helping you lift the dirt out of the hole.

Mike Haasl wrote:The kind I've seen which made a lot of sense to me is a counterbalanced style.  Then the weight of the engine is helping you lift the dirt out of the hole.

Thanks for the idea. While I'm basically stuck with the auger I have, counterbalancing would be a good idea. Adding a 5-gallon bucket of dirt at far end could help with lifting up the auger, and the added mass would help when the auger inevitably hits a big rock/root.

I do agree that two wheels would be much more stable, at least on flattish ground...

Have you seen this variation?
Wheelbarrow style
DIY single wheel auger transport and digging
Or this clever one

Here's version 1.1 of my auger trolley. The auger is a Sportsman Earth Series 43cc 6 in. Gas Powered Auger and the trolley is a dolly designed for carrying 55-gallon drums. In version 1.0 I just connected the dolly and auger together via interlocking hose clamps, but they didn't seem to be very secure. In version 1.1 I used swivel eyes as axles, and they seem much sturdier.  

I haven't tried digging with it yet, but so far I like how the project is coming along.

are they bare root or potted. that will work if they are potted. I can speak from my experience. with bare root trees. I planted 400+ trees using an auger, big mistake, big mistake. had 4 to 5 people working. it took a lot of time and energy more than a week.  then the next year I planted another 400 trees , 3 people helping using dibble bars and hoe daddy, all planted in less than 4 hours.

I dont know your plan but I'm thinking if you are planting 1000 trees they are most likely to arrive as dormant bare root saplings. for best outcome they need to be planted in the ground or potted in winter or very early spring before they wake up from dormancy and roots kept moist and not allowed to dry out.

bruce Fine wrote:are they bare root or potted. that will work if they are potted. I can speak from my experience. with bare root trees. I planted 400+ trees using an auger, big mistake, big mistake. had 4 to 5 people working. it took a lot of time and energy more than a week.  then the next year I planted another 400 trees , 3 people helping using dibble bars and hoe daddy, all planted in less than 4 hours.

Thanks for the suggestion of using a dibble bar. I'll have to research that a bit as it might be a good option. Almost all of the trees will be bare root pawpaws from my state nursery, and pawpaw roots tend to be a bit fragile so I'm a bit worried about compressing the roots into a relatively narrow slit.

Why did it take you so long to plant trees using an auger? This past spring I planted three hundred bare root trees using a cordless drill auger. Just working by myself, I averaged planting 20-25 trees per hour and that including measuring out a spacing for the trees in an 8'x15' grid, digging the holes, and planting the trees. Four people planting 400 trees in a week works out to about 2-3 trees per person hour.

it was a lengthy process with the auger in nearly frozen ground filling the holes and getting them planted to the right depth. and we didn't work full days it was maybe half days but there was just no comparison to planting with dibble bar.  
ask your states tree nursery how they do planting.
I just chimed in on this with the experience ive had planting lots of trees

bruce Fine wrote:I dont know your plan but I'm thinking if you are planting 1000 trees they are most likely to arrive as dormant bare root saplings. for best outcome they need to be planted in the ground or potted in winter or very early spring before they wake up from dormancy and roots kept moist and not allowed to dry out.

I'll be getting these trees from the Indiana state nursery, and they usually start having them available for pickup or shipping sometime in March. Keeping the roots moist, and getting them in the ground quickly, certainly helps in having a good survival rate. My plan is that if I mark out the spacing in the winter, and pre-dig the holes a week or so before I pick up the trees, then with a bit of luck I should be able to get all the trees in the ground within a week or two.

I recently saw one earlier this year for sale locally that appeared to be built on a moving dolly, but it looked factory made. It was mounted on rails and had a small winch (probably a trailer winch) to raise and lower it, so it was basically a mini well drilling rig. It looked neat enough to pique my interest, but it was old enough to need 20:1 mix, didn't run, and they still wanted way too much for it for me to bite.

Version 1.2 of the Auger Trolley incorporates Mike's counterbalancing suggestion. A bent 10 foot section of 1/2" EMT conduit is secured at both ends to the wheel axle and a 5-gallon bucket hangs from the far end. Paracord is used to keep the bucket elevated. With three solid bricks in the bucket, the auger is almost perfectly balanced in the standard digging position requiring only a slight downward force to keep things stationary. I previously tried using 5 feet of bent 1/2" EMT conduit to support the bucket, but the bucket kept hitting the ground when I was moving the auger from place to place.

Any finally, after two months of planning and building, here is the auger in action. I think it turned out quite well. The dolly did quite a good job of dampening the vibrations and torques of the auger.

Great outcome,do you have heavy clay across your land, or is it dry?
I auger in the winter when naTURE IS WORKING WITH ME.

John C Daley wrote:Great outcome,do you have heavy clay across your land, or is it dry?
I auger in the winter when naTURE IS WORKING WITH ME.

The property has heavy clay throughout and tends to be quite wet. We haven't gotten rain in four days and there are still a few spots with standing water on the property. Eventually, I'll rent a mini-excavator and do some earthworks to help with the drainage issues.

Your auger trolly looks really cool!

I planted 1000 bare root trees and shrubs in 2019 over the course of about 3 days, with great help from family on the first day. I'll raise my hand ✋and say that I'm also a big proponent of the dibble bar method.  

For those who don't know what that means, I have a doodle in the post titled:

"10 things I learned planting 1000 trees"

Basically, if I recall right...

Take a shovel -- or preferably a nice long spade, or you can purchase a fancy dibble bar:

1. Stick the spade in the ground, and rock it toward you, making a deep V-shaped hole, then lift the spade out of the hole at an angle  
2. Have a partner (or you) hold the the tree in the V-hole at proper collar flare depth.
3. Shove the spade back into the dirt at an angle, sandwiching it towards the tree roots by rocking it forward, compressing the soil flat against the bare roots.  Lift the spade out of the dirt.  
4. Tidy up: pat down any clumping soil near the base of the tree with your boot, and use the spade again (as needed, from different angles) to ensure no giant soil air-gaps are around the tree roots, and that the tree is more or less upright.

Happy planting!

George Yacus wrote:Your auger trolly looks really cool! I planted 1000 bare root trees and shrubs in 2019 over the course of about 3 days, with great help from family on the first day. I'll raise my hand ✋and say that I'm also a big proponent of the dibble bar method.

Following Bruce's comments about dibble bars, I did a bit of research into them, and it seems like they are amazing for some types of trees but not so good for others. This video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIxkrmA22EU)  seems to be particularly relevant as, like Noordman Christmas trees, pawpaws are quite sensitive to drought and often don't transplant well. It certainly takes more time to use the auger relative to a dibble bar, but if there's a higher survival rate with using the auger then it will be worth it.

So far, I've probably dug about 400 holes with the auger, and have been averaging about 50 holes an hour. The vibrations of the auger have been beating the dolly to hell, which is good since I'd rather the auger beat the dolly than the auger beat me. The shaking was causing the screws and nuts on the dolly to keep coming undone so I ended up having to apply thread locker to all the screws. Also, any hose clamps need to be re-tightened after about every two hours. Finally, the bucket counter-balancing the auger failed spectacularly as the metal handle was ripped from the plastic part after a few hundred holes. Now, bricks are secured via hose clamps to where the bucket once was.

John Wolfram wrote:...
Finally, the bucket counter-balancing the auger failed spectacularly as...

One of my absolute favorite things about permies.com, is whenever folks share feedback like this.  So thank you, John.

It's easy for folks to share success stories, but the golden-delicious posts are whenever folks like John here have the courage to share their "failures" or negative system feedback.  Then the rising tide lifts us all.

Not to rain on your parade, but….

I have had lots of bad luck with auger holes in clay. They seem to form sealed pots and water log the trees and even root bound in the hole. A local nurserymen told me to either dig the whole hole DEEP or at least drive a stake in the bottom of the hole to let the water and tap root go down. They seemed to work much better after that.