Detailed instructions from a 7 year veteran highballer on how to plant quickly and efficiently.
Like any industry or job, it has its system of quality control. The specs (technical specifications) usually change with every project. Spruce is better for wetter ground, while pine can be better in higher, drier ground. If planting on the coast, you might be instructed to plant certain trees in certain ground, carrying with you … Read more
The quality check is performed using a plot, which you create by randomly sticking your shovel into the ground somewhere and check all the trees which have fallen within an 8 foot radius of that shovel. First the treeplanting company’s checkers or foremen check your trees, but then the forestry does the same, according to … Read more
Such an arduous job will inevitably tax your body. Your metabolism seems to double, with a likewise increase in appetite. Your wounds heal three times as fast. Your nails and hair grow faster as well. While fasting, I’ve learned that your body can consume up to 60% of its energy converting food into usable energy. Breaking down … Read more
Like termites in an attic, we gobble up empty space and fill out empty blocks stripped of their trees. The Native American First Nations Peoples, as they collectively take on contracts too, like to start in the middle of an area and plant outwards like dew drops spiraling out of a snail shell. However, in … Read more
This is the tool which will make all things happen. Inevitably, one can look at it as their golf club. You could even consider having different shovels for different types of ground. You can get a staff shovel (shown here), which is a long stick, or a D handle (shown below), which is more common. The … Read more
I always noticed how those who put in the most numbers are usually those who get out of the truck first, volunteer to take the first available piece, are the fastest on their first bagup, and already planting before anyone else. They are usually also always the last ones in the truck to go back to camp at … Read more
Planting medium is the soil or other substance you are considering to plant your tree in. Usually they specify the requirements. Sometimes they let you plant in rotting wood. Usually, if the rotting wood is still red but getting quite mushy and wet, that would be a healthy enough environment in which your seedling can … Read more
One foreman kept repeating this to me: efficiency of movement. His numbers, whenever he got the opportunity to plant, were phenomenal. I watched him and he didn’t seem to be moving fast at all. Whenever I watched the ultra highballers, with numbers often double or more mine, they never seemed to be working harder than … Read more
You can get quite creative here as well. One planter showed me a video how, in soft sand, he didn’t even need to close his hole because the sand just fell into the hole naturally. In a particular terrain, I might push the handle far forward to build up a mound in front of it. By this … Read more
Like our mushy C-cut example above, even here you will see there are different styles. Sometimes the terrain is so mushy you can practically just gloop your tree plug into the ground without a shovel. [I was once on such a contract and it was great fun. I was planting the piece together with two … Read more