tree spade questions

[whitepine]

Hi I am looking at tree spades and would like input from anyone who has used one. My ground is hard clay and I am looking at smaller ones on a hand cart or pulled behind an atv. Do they work are they any faster than just digging. Has anyone ever made one themselves? I like to make welding projects and they seem simple enough.  Have looked online at one called tree toad ofcourse would like one mounted on bobcat but cannot justify that . Thanks for your help.

[Paul_H]

Whitepine,
here is a link to a thread from a couple of years ago.Since then we have bought a used Case 1840 that is plumbed for a spade which can be rented for $500 cdn per week,which is a lot cheaper than the $25 per tree we were charged by a local company with a spade.

Are you looking at a smaller version? The spade shown in the thread is digging for 28" wire baskets.

Digging Aspen

[whitepine]

Hi I am looking for a small one something I could use with my atv or 4wd truck.  Thanks

[Murf]

How about on in place of the bucket of the loader of a tractor?

There are some real simple ones out there that have no moving parts at all, just a V-shaped bucket that points forwards instead of sideways. You just poke it into the ground in a circle around the tree, when you complete the circle just tip it back and out comes the tree.

They work quite well since you can use the entire amount of downpressure of the loader, plus a little wiggling with the 'curl' circuit to push them down in hard ground.