Planting apple trees

[benedmonds]

I have been asked to provide a quote to plant an apple orchard.

 

2 yr old apple trees, so I guess like planting whips.

 

1400 trees, 36 rows 100m long at 5m apart, trees spaced @ 2m intervals so about 40 trees per row.

 

Ground is flat & firm, will be set to grass.

 

How many do you think a man (or woman) could plant in a day?

[Al Mondz]

If your planting whips it will be a lot quicker than digging holes for potted trees. Be sure they are whips though. Would you be doing tubes, stakes and ties too ?

[Al Mondz]

I might be wrong but I think that 2 year old trees are generally potted, at a year they could be bare root.

[agg221]

I would want some clear details here as to what is expected.

 

Bare-root or potted?

Pit planting (best) or trenching?

Any soil improvement to go in with them?

How solid is the ground (e.g. can it be deep ploughed before planting)?

Stakes and ties?

Any weed preventing mulch, e.g. Terram?

Hand or machinery?

 

At one extreme, you could be trench planting bare-root into ploughed lines, no stakes or ties (although with 2-yr old trees I would expect stakes and ties). At the opposite extreme, you could be pit planting by hand into some highly compacted soil which needs improving in 2-3' diameter holes, with stakes and ties.

 

The latter I would turn down on a commercial basis - it's how I had to do mine, into heavy flint and clay, and I reckon 10 trees a day was the limit.

 

Alec