Not sure if this is the right forum, but I consider the Kubota & New Holland etc. type TLB units to be compact ones, correct? Anyway I need to plant some 3.5" - 4" caliper maple trees and need to rent a machine for this job. Can anyone help with what size of either of those I should look for, since I will be ordering over the phone as opposed to standing in the rental yard saying "I want that one". Those 2 are the most common brands of those rented around here (sometimes JD also), but I am not familiar with what names or numbers they go by like a Case 580K or JD 410 or a Cat D-4 etc. I don't want the smallest machines they have, but something in the mid range should work, and probably don't need the largest either. Thanks.
get something that u can put forks on so u can move the trees without smashing the rootball
If the root ball os like 3' in diameter the case 580L,JD310 would be fine
Yea I'll probably get forks with it. Cat320, COMPACT TLB's not real ones LOL. Those are over kill for this job. Those I know but I don't know what the little ones are called. ;-) These trees will probably have a 4' -5' diameter root ball?
If I read your post correctly, you said 3.5 to 4 inches. If this is the case, you don't need a backoe.. Rent any compact tractor with a 12 inch post hole auger bit. You can really sail down a row crop and bury a lot of sapplings. Use the front bucket for transporting the sapplings if need be. I have a 41 HP Mahindra with a Bradco 11 ft hoe on the rear. It can dig almost as good and quick as any commercial hoe. Where you fall down is the getting on and off the hoe to move machine. I move what I can (like everyone else that pushes themselves with hoe) After one or two pushes, I have no choice to dismount, climb machine and reposition. The machine overall is an awesome worker. I brush hog 18 acres of grass, use the hoe a lot.. Had it one year, 118 hours os far.
Welcome to HEF lamarbur! The trees will have around 4 foot diameter root balls probably. So the holes will be around 6' diameter. The 3.5" - 4" refers to the caliper size of the trees. This is a type of measurement of the trunk size. If I am doing a whole lot of trees for a site I will usually use an auger. Since this is just 3 trees, I'll just use a back hoe and make the holes exactly the way I want them. Congrats on the first year of having a great machine. Good luck with it. I have used Bradco hoes before but I can't remember what machines they were on. They worked well.
you see alot of them on skid steers. I have many. many years with a John Deere 710 TLB and now and then use the 110/230 excavators. Funny, never operated a grader/dozer/ or skid steer.. Getting back to your original question, then, yes, a compact can easily do a 4/6 ft hole for giant root ball.
So I finally got to plant the trees the first week of December. I ended up borrowing (well renting) a friend\subcontractor's New Holland 7308. One of the trees actually about maxed the machine out. We could load it onto the bucket, but the bucket would not raise any higher off the truck.
Another shot
Last one. Cold day but the job went well.
the 7308 refers to the New Holland loader which I believe is 780 lb lift or so at the pins. My loader has 1400 pounds. I have a bradco 11 ft hoe which, isn't too far from being a full blown operational hoe. The loader Mahindra use on all thier tractors are all smaller than the tractor can easily handle. My original objective and still is, is to get the Kubota L 48, which is a full commercial hoe with the flip over seat and still have that three point hitch for other impliments. My Mahindra, even with the 11 ft hoe, same as the L 48 Kubota, one has to climb off machine and climb to use hoe and back and forth.. Got to get away from that whne ever I can.
The root balls of the trees I planted where alot bigger and I don't think that a machine of that size would of handeled them well.Plus one of the trees was higher than a 2 story house and the other big tree was about 1 1/2 hald stories high.
According to literature from the nursery these trees weighed around 1,100 -1,400 pounds. When I plant trees the size like you mention Cat320, then I use a real TLB like a Case 580 etc.
A nice feature of the JD110 TLB, is that is has a "creep switch" that allows you to move the machine forward or backward, without having to get off..