[Nathaniel Carr]

Pelican,
I have two tree slings from A.M. Leonard, they are expensive for nylon straps but Holy Smoke are they a lot better than wrestling trees into position. We just planted a hedge of cedars using it and we were able to lift the balls over a row of daylilies and set them into a trench. The daylilies would have been destroyed if we didn't have the sling. It basically made heros out of us in the home owner's mind.

They way it works is so simple I wish I would have thought of it; The thing is basically a "cradle" (it might be hard to describe). There is a fat strap that wraps around the bottom of the root ball, sewn to the strap are smaller straps with loops that attach to your forks, three of the looped straps are fixed, the last strap is extra long and it also attaches to the forks, but first it is passed through a little loop on the end of the fat strap, so when you lift your forks the long strap cinches down on the cradle strap, and holds the ball secure. WHen the tree is placed the long strap is threaded off the fork, through the cradle loop and then is is totally disconnected and you are ready to grab the next tree.

I bought the medium one last year and this year I got the big one for the 3" caliper and over trees. We are going to put it to the test next week planting 5- 20ft birches on a 3 to 1 slope.

Having reread your post I would like to add:
I don't know if they would work with a boom, you want the forks to go to either side of the trunk.