I Want to Plant Some Trees

So....

You want some trees planted, but have never had a landscaper do anything for you before, and haven't a clue what to expect. Plus your wondering if you could do this yourself.

Well, get on your boots, your goin' with us for the day. By days end you'll know what to expect when we call you up and say, "we're coming to plant trees tomorrow". And/or you'll learn how to plant a tree.

Come on, jump in, lets head out to the job.

Note: These pictures are from a job we did in January 2010

Heres the load of trees we'll be planting today. They were just dug the other day, we loaded them up, threw a tarp over to protect them, and they'll have a new home today. Note: Not all things fit in the back of a car.

This Truck and Trailer brought the 'Muscles'. The SkidSteer Loader has rubber tracks for better flotation, and will perform a large share of the grunt work today.

Lets get out the measuring wheel and paint stick...x marks the spot.

Here we have the Skidsteer loader hooked up the the Auger Bit. This thing is what keeps us from going to the chiropractor every day (and losing weight) It digs the hole for the tree, giving us nice loose dirt to backfill the tree with.

Now the hole is dug, lets get some Soil Amendment Material from off the back of the dump truck.

Here's the pile, and theres the shovel...get to work!

Now we mix the Soil Amendment Material with the dirt.

Moving trees by hand? No! They say that work never killed anybody, but we don't want to take any chances. What you see is one of our favorite pieces of equipment-a small track machine that does everything your grandpa used to do by hand, in half the time.

Lets place the tree in the whole. For big trees, we use a sling system using chains, which allows us to properly situate the tree in the hole. For smaller trees we get the biggest guy in the crew and say "bet you can't put that tree in the hole", and after he does, we plant it.

We're getting there...but keep shoveling.

Hey, this is looking good. We have the dirt all mounded around the rootball and are ready for mulch. Oh, you think its to high? Well, the truth is, most people tend to bury their plants, instead of plant them. Trees have a 'crown' at the base of the trunk which should not be buried. Yes, there is such a thing as planting too high, but it is usually better to be a little high then low. Also note the bowl we created around the base of the tree-this will help with watering.

One last step before we mulch. Tree Staking. We use a Anchor System that we pound in the ground, then attach cables from the it to the tree. It will protect the tree from blowing around (or over) in high winds. Why do we use this system? One of the big factors is that when you stand 50' away, you can't see that the tree is staked. Yeah, like we want to see the tree not the stakes.

The trailers getting empty, so hang in there we're almost done!

And now we just mulched the last tree. We're tired and its getting dark...lets go home!

By the way, we're comin' over to plant your trees tomorrow.

Thanks for your help!