[nafex] hole digging
jim
jmc1 at epix.net
Sat Jan 20 16:49:35 EST 2001
I second Ed's remarks, and will add my own 2-cents' worth:
1) Stay off your land until it is reasonably friable. Don't auger it, don't
spade it, don't drive your horse across it -- on heavy clay, the compaction
damage you can do takes a long time to reverse.
2) You can utilize a circular digger, tho -- a 9 or 10 inch auger to make the
initial hole, followed by a gorilla-powered spade. Your auger will make Ed's
clay pot, but your gorilla can destroy that by creating a 12-14 inch hole.
3) Even on good friable soil, using an auger very often results in a hole
16-18-24 inches deep. So much fun seeing that dirt spilling out. That
too-deep hole, though, will present a delayed settling problem. You carefully
set your tree with the union 4 inches above soil level -- and then the soil
level falls by 5 inches, and you're in the scion-rooting business. Fine if
you want a big standard tree!!
//Jim
www.cumminsnursery.com
Ed & Pat Fackler wrote:
> Del----------
>
> My only comment re: below is that digging holes in clay soils with any
> type of circular digger will almost guarantee a clay pot, even if soils are
> only slightly wet.
> If you are insistent on digging with such a device, I'd use a fork to
> deglaze the sides prior to planting of trees. Otherwise, your trees will
> be sitting in a clay pot for over a year (or until frost heaving breaks up
> the sides of the hole). This generally results in literal drowning of tree
> roots.
>
> Ed
>
> pinewoodel at hotmail.com wrote:
>
> > just did an archive search and found nothing relevant.... ive got 200
> > holes to dig for trees this spring in our heavy clay. Was able to
> > borrow once a Gravely garden tractor with a hole digging attachment.
> > Its a rorary drill for planting , digs a hole about 16" wide and 16"
> > deep.Its advantage is that it grinds up the clay. If i had the
> > physical stamina and was built like a gorilla i could consider hand
> > digging but the clay would come out in spade size blocks, not so nice
> > for roots. Graveleys are a heavy duty machine and not every one knows
> > they make a hole digger. However my only other option at present is to
> > find a way to attach an old 9" post hole auger i bought to the loader
> > of my farmall M tractor ( they don't have 3 pt. hitches). Has anyone
> > seen a post hole auger fited to a loader of a tractor? I figure with
> > this configuration i could drill multiple holes and break up the
> > clay.How do you all dig holes? minnesota del
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