Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living This Thing is Huge!

Pic for size relation to my big tractor...

You gonna start moving trees?

(I think that's what it is)

Yessir!

Tree spade.

Getting geared up to start harvesting olive trees at the olive ranch. You wouldn't believe the market for olive trees for landscaping.

This spade goes on my skid steer loader.

Looks good Barry!!

I must admit, the whole operation is a bit intimidating.

Just a beginner here, but I already know more about the nursery business and spading, root pruning, basketing, and selling trees.... than I ever thought I would.

Further education to come as time goes on.

Can I borrow it for about a week?

Barry, I'm wonderin' about the rear on that skidsteer, that's a lot of weight.

Got a rear stabilizer kit with a bolt on wide frame that has two hydraulic cylinders that when activated, engage the ground to keep the front from coming up when you drive those blades into the ground, and it has a 1000 pounds of counterweight as well.

Good thinking!

My machine is big, heavy and powerful, but to run something like that, you need to be have stability.

ha!, my father in law had an Allice TL 14 they unloaded roofing steel, and had all the men haning in the back to steer!

what brand ? I have rebuilt more [ Big John ] tree spades than i can count in the last 35 years

This one is a Dutchman, made in Canada.

From what I understand, they are supposed to be the best you can buy as a spade manufacturer.

I think most nursery businesses that use them a lot use a Dutchman.

Diversification to add to your income. Good deal. Let us know with pics when you start operating it.

I will, for sure.

The grove section at the olive ranch will probably never pay in harvesting and producing olive oil.

So, in order to make that part pay, I inquired and found very strong demand and little to no supply on olive trees in the landscaping end, homes and businesses being the market. So, once you look at the demand, and the positives of olive trees as a tree, it becomes pretty clear that it could be very ongoing.

Olive trees are drought resistant and can live for hundreds of years, plus, you may actually get olives off of them.

I did an extensive survey of trees at the ranch, and there's well over 20k trees that are desirable and between 11 and 15 feet in height. Each one should wholesale for $400 -$450.

That adds up.

A look down the rows of trees.

I'll make you a good deal on some Russian olives,

the way the blades are set up looks a lot better than all of the ones i have worked on . they had open tracks with rollers so dirt was mixed with grease and did not last long. I hope it works well for you

Oh man!

No thanks!


Thanks for that opinion! I'll see how it works and report back. Bit too wet to be pulling anything right now. More rain coming this weekend.

Dang Barry ! 20k is a lot of trees !!! How many acres is that place ?
Do raccoons bother the olives like they do in other fruit or pecan orchards ?

Would love to see some video when you get it dirty. Minimum HP to operate it?

Not had any issues with coons there. Hogs played hell with the drip irrigation system for a few years, but I guess I killed 'em all... Even at a place where I had a feeder and blind, I never saw one hog last year. I'm sure they'll come back though.

There is 60k trees planted out there. Drainage issues holding too much water decimated a bunch of them. The deep freeze of 2021 burnt a lot more back really bad.

The 20k trees I mentioned is those up to 15' in height, and prime for harvest and sale. I have that many more I'll prune and sell as shrub type ornamentals. Those should bring between $150 and $300 wholesale.

That spade goes on a skid loader, not really a tractor type spade. I'm running it on my 90hp loader.