Who planted bareroots with a dibble ?!?

CentralKyHunter

CentralKyHunter

Active Member
How many can a man plant an hour if someone keeps the trees flowing to them ? This is going in clean crop ground with just bean stubble .

Tips on dibble bar selection or anything else?!? Just exploring all my options .

We previously used a mechanical planter and may do the same again but just crunching the economics of both options. Considering buying a planter if I can find one, or hiring a couple local Amish to come work with me in the dibbles.
 
Ive planted all my trees with a dibble, so i am upwards of a few thousand. Just depends on the root system and somewhat on soil conditions.
Bald cypress has a carrot type root and though ive never timed it, i can probably plant one every 30 seconds in good soil.
Now, give me a silky dogwood with its mass of roots and i am probably half that. And half again if i have to really work the dibble in hard packed soil.
The dibble i use is heavy as all of them are, and has the pointed end. Never used the type with a flat end, but that probably works best in good loose soil.
 
I got my dibbles from forestry suppliers,they are good ones if you have to use them.What I did on my bigger projects was work the ground as deep as I could then plant wheat in the fall then in spring spray with RU then plant trees.I would always use a pull behind planter if available.I borrow the one I use from kansas forestry and you can plant several hundred per hour easily
 
Fish said:
Ive planted all my trees with a dibble, so i am upwards of a few thousand. Just depends on the root system and somewhat on soil conditions.
Bald cypress has a carrot type root and though ive never timed it, i can probably plant one every 30 seconds in good soil.
Now, give me a silky dogwood with its mass of roots and i am probably half that. And half again if i have to really work the dibble in hard packed soil.
The dibble i use is heavy as all of them are, and has the pointed end. Never used the type with a flat end, but that probably works best in good loose soil.
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Little slower than I expected , I thought maybe 4-5 a minute in soft ground with no sod.


buckdeer1 said:
I got my dibbles from forestry suppliers,they are good ones if you have to use them.What I did on my bigger projects was work the ground as deep as I could then plant wheat in the fall then in spring spray with RU then plant trees.I would always use a pull behind planter if available.I borrow the one I use from kansas forestry and you can plant several hundred per hour easily
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Thanks for the info. We used a planter this spring on a 8 acre project . For it I hired a guy to bring one since I had never used one . He charge $150 an acre. Which wasn't bad, he brought his own tractor and planter and three guys total . I just walked behind the planter and adjusted trees as needed .

I have been trying to find one to buy at a decent price bc I will probably be planting the next few years and could use it to expand my blackberry orchard.

Our forestry department has one but I think you have to buy the seedlings from them to use it, and I probably will get them elsewhere. Just exploring all options
 
I've planted over 2100 pines in one day by myself. It was early March, so not as many daylight hours and in loamy sand. My Dibble bar was a tile shovel. I've planted just about all my forestry trees with the same 1 the past 11 years.

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I use the heavy duty Dibble from Forestry suppliers and am happy with it. Spring planting in sod killed the previous fall, we planted 600 plants and it was slow compared to everyone else quoted so far due to heavy soil and rocks. With one person running the dibble while the other places the plant in the hole produced the most for us. The one putting the plant in the hole just had to be very careful to keep his fingers above ground for when the dibble bar operator was off in his timing of squishing the hole in.
 
CentralKyHunter said:
How many can a man plant an hour if someone keeps the trees flowing to them ? This is going in clean crop ground with just bean stubble .

Tips on dibble bar selection or anything else?!? Just exploring all my options .

We previously used a mechanical planter and may do the same again but just crunching the economics of both options. Considering buying a planter if I can find one, or hiring a couple local Amish to come work with me in the dibbles.
Click to expand...

I actually like a wide, square tipped, heavy duty shovel pretty well. I think depending on the ground and size of the roots you will set between 250 - 320 per hour. For me it would be fewer in the last hour than the first hour...:)
 
Thanks for all the input.

I've been pretty hellbent on buying a mechanical planter but I honestly think if I get a good group of local Amish to help we can knock it out pretty quick & cheap as per the input given.

I love the thought of owning a planter for future projects but to run one right it takes a driver, two setters, and s follow behind man . If I use three guys planting and myself to do the organizing and tree delivery than we can easily knock it out in a day for only $300-$400 labor .

I think I'm looking at about 6 acres & 3600 seedlings.
 
Some of you that's not using traditional dibbles lets see what your using.

I'm going to borrow a dibble from the forestry department this week and try it out on some seedlings I have to see how my pace goes .
 
Tree Planter Mechanical Transplanter CT12 - $3500 (Auburn
This is a used, but in very good condition Mechanical Transplanter brand tree planter. It has a 3-point hitch mounting system, integral stand, and enables fast planting of seedling trees/plants with adjustable spacing. This has been stored inside, and shows well. These are over $7,000 new. Text message or call Cory at (614) four-four-one, 27 one five. Fort Wayne Indiana craigslist
 
Very good find, nice machine !!

I have scoured craigslist pretty hard and did not find that one. Unfortunately I don't think that style works real well for hardwoods.

I could be wrong about that so I'm going to dig a little deeper, greatly appreciate you looking either way
 
Have you talked to any of your conservation foresters or agents? Our dept is happy to loan 3 point planters out. I'd exhaust all efforts at begging to borrow one from them before dibbling in 3600 seedlings. THAT would be a literal pain in the back.
 
Redonthehead said:
Have you talked to any of your conservation foresters or agents? Our dept is happy to loan 3 point planters out. I'd exhaust all efforts at begging to borrow one from them before dibbling in 3600 seedlings. THAT would be a literal pain in the back.
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Yes, I work very closely with the Ky Dept of Forestry on all of my larger tree projects bc they are largely all funded by them . They have one I can borrow but generally require you to buy seedlings from them ( which I probably won't do) but I stand a decent chance to possibly borrow it anyways. I was just trying to figure out my best bet timewise .

A two-person planter requires five people to run efficiently . One driver, two riders, one follow behind person to adjust trees and A fifth person to keep the setter with trees.

I just found out yesterday though that my planting just went from 4 acres to over 8 acres so I'm definitely having to go with a tree planter on this one !!!
 
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It could undoubtably be done just fine with just three people including your driver but im the type of person that likes to keep moving with out taking many breaks which requires someone hauling trees and I personally like to follow the planter and adjust trees as needed to my satisfaction
 
Im gonna need to see pics of this planting.... have a photographer standing by too.:)
 
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