[Paydaze7]

just curious how some of you guys that do wetlands work plant 2" plugs.. weve been using gas powered drills with 3" bits, but im always wondering what others use?? we have a big job over 40k plugs to plant and just picking others brains....

[NCSULandscaper]

i think you could do it just as fast if not faster using a wedge planter

[spiderlily]

We use a Stihl gas powered auger. It is my favorite small gas engine--a sweet machine. One person drills the holes, and three people can't keep up planting behind the driller. Super easy to use, quiet, not too smelly.

[VoodooChile]

I did 3000 once by myself with an electric Dewalt hammer drill. The best part was when the augur would get caught in the erosion blanket...just about every hole.

What's a wedge planter? That sounds like something we used to plant tomato and cabbage transplants back in my farming days.

[agla]

Its all about speed and effort. There is not a lot of effort in popping a hole with a trowel into fresh screened topsoil (known from other thread somewhere else). It is essentially one motion - jab and pull open the hole. You never let go of the trowel, the other hand is free to place the plant and pinch it in, you can do several without moving anything besides your arms, you don't have to carry anything besides a trowel and the plants, you don't have to go back to put the plants in the hole or to bury them.

In other words, you only go over the ground once, you are working fast, and you are travelling light.

Instead of three people trying to keep up with the auger, four people could be gittin' 'er done.

[dan deutekom]

Agla

Your method is all fine and dandy for a well prepped planting bed but most wetland plantings in my area means that we are naturalizing the area. Not much happens in ground prep and you have to stand on the trowel to get into the ground. An auger is the way to go. I use one to plant my bulbs in the fall as well. Two people with an auger will outplant 5 people with trowels any day.

[dan deutekom]

Is the wedge planter the device used by forestry for planting seedlings? Forestry also has a special dibble that would work well also.

[Paul]

Wetland planting means the soil is soft, we used a long handeled crocus dibble. The men had a canavas cloth bag that they hung over their shoulder, the plants where mixed into the bag and the long dibble allowed them to punch a hole with one hand and drop the plug with the other, they used their foot to complete the planting. If your into heavy plantings of other types of soils say wet to mesic praire and the drills are getting boged down with wet sticky soils but too hard for the dibble switch to a 6' pry bar you know the heavy ones. They carry enough weight to open the hole without a lot of effort.

[NCSULandscaper]

Originally Posted by dan deutekom

Is the wedge planter the device used by forestry for planting seedlings? Forestry also has a special dibble that would work well also.

Yes exactly, if you are wetland planting then its going to be easy digging, and a 2" plug is not big, i bet you could do 2x the amount of planting with the hand tool instead of a power tool for this application

[VoodooChile]

The augur has the advantage of pulverizing the soil, providing a higher percentage of soil to root contact, improving chances that the plugs establish.

I've gotta go with Henry Ford here, and believe that division of labor will prove faster. We can get 32 plug trays in mixes like "short grass prairie" with 4 plugs each of 8 species. The guys crawl along the ground pulling plugs straight from the trays,and then plop them right into the ground. If anything is root-bound, they cut the plug's root system into quarters with their Felcos. 3 guys barely keeping up with one augur operator is about right.

And dan is right on with the soils, at least round here. Heavy clay, or silty muck is what we get. Grading with pulverized topsoil in the shore-yard (75' from the Ordinary High Water Mark) will run you afoul of Walworth County Zoning, and is almost never permitted. Of course soils and regulations vary everywhere...

And don't dare take that gas-powered augur from Spiderlilly. A few more years running it, and she might even come round to backpack blowers...or do you guys prefer brooms and rakes?

[Paydaze7]

great comments and input! thanks

[VoodooChile]

It occurs to me that one HUGE advantage of a dibble stick over an auger would be in situations that call for erosion blanket. The dibble stick should be able to puncture the blanket and widen an opening for the plug, without the aggravation of cutting a hole for each plug and untangling the bit of the auger every other time...

Is that the case?

[agla]

The post on the other forum said that it was "fresh screened topsoil". That is why I don't think you can out compete doing it with hand tools in this case.

I think individuals with trowels would out do a group following a dibble in this particular situation because the soil is so loose. Part of that has to do with whether or not the dibble hole will stay open and part of it is that the planter has his hands on the planting and can ensure that it is planted tight enough. I would not be so sure that a toe kick is going to get it done in "fresh screened topsoil" and that could result in having to go back and replace dead ones later.

PS. I prefer a backpack blower in a parking lot, but use a broom in my garage (unlike a former employee of mine who my wife was ready to kill).

[jshilan]

Hey Paydaze why not do a test study and try several of the methods discussed. They all appear to have their pros and cons. Essentially it seems like there are two camps - Power Tools vs Hand Tools and both feel very strongly about their positions. Since there is a little confusion on soil type and conditions, you could probably give a more detailed description along with your results of the various installaltion techniques after you complete the project. I think it would be a great learning opportunity (assuming it did not inconvenience you too much) and many contractors who do this type of work could compare times in various conditons when they do this type of work in the future.

"Lets get ready too plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant pluuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugs"

[dan deutekom]

I think this thread shows the many sides of "it depends"

It depends on the soil type, the soil prep, the strength of the back, the type of plant material.......

If you have soft fresh screened top soil you just can't beat a few guys with trowels. If you have a hard time getting a trowel into the ground then you start looking at mechanical advantages. Just depends