North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dennis Norton" <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>]

Alan,

We have used augers for tree planting here at Royal Oak Farm for about 4 
years now.  We have planted over 3,000 trees using our Bobcat with a 12" 
auger.  If you are planting grafted trees with a root system of 10 or more 
inches extending below the graft, you have to make sure you allow for 
settlement of the soil from the augering.  We leave the graft union about 6 
inches above the top of the grade in an 18" hole.  This allows for 12" of 
root system and plenty of loose soil around and below the root system, but 
it will settle about 6" on you.  If you stake your trees, do it as soon as 
you plant because the softer soil makes it real easy to get the stake in by 
hand without having to pound it in.  Hope this helps!



Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan ." <yarrylo@hotmail.com>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 8:45 AM
Subject: [NAFEX] augers


> I have been considering the use of a gas-powered auger for digging holes in 
> a clay-based soil to plant various types of fruit trees currently growing 
> in 2 and 3 gallon (about 10 inch diameter) containers and was wondering if 
> someone here has experience with this device and might comment on such 
> things as its efficiency vs other means, ease of use, auger diameter to 
> choose for this job and any potential problems to bear in mind.
> Thanks.
> Alan Stein
> zone 6
>
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