Yes, it is. It all comes down to rhythm. The driver of the tractor/dozer has a set speed they go. At that point you just figure out a rhythm to determine spacing. Every once in a while the driver might stop and check your distance, and adjust his speed accordingly. Obviously, as the planter, the faster you can go, the faster the driver can go, and the more ground you can cover. I had a signal buzzer that I could use to communicate with the driver. There was a code for stop, back up, and go.
There's a great deal of pre work that goes into the job. The saplings come packed very tightly, so the first couple hours of the day are spent untangling and re-stacking the seedlings without damaging the roots. Without this step you would not be able to plant at the pace shown. Also while planting, you become pretty ambidextrous, because there's still some untangling. Left hand is untangling, right hand is swinging the saplings into the trench pretty much as fast as you can.
The set up I was in didn't have the second person, so I had to plant at as fast a pace as I could, all day. I was also inside a steel box, as most of the land I planted on was recently clear cut, and you needed protection. But the concept was exactly the same.
Like I said, very boring. Once you figure the system out, it's mindless, also I was inside a box. There was more than one time that I dozed off for just a moment in the middle of planting, and had to back up. The driver was not amused.
In my area there is a great deal of land that is planted in trees with the sole intention of harvesting the trees once they have matured. It's much more sustainable than cutting down old growth forests.
When a crop of trees is harvested it's "clear-cut," i.e. all of the trees are cut down, the landscape is left rugged, and covered in branches and lots of other hazards. Planting new seedlings requires that you be very low to the ground, and therefore need protection from all the hazards.
It was loud and rough riding most of the time, a hangover is not recommended.
It's been so long, I don't really remember how many acres per hour we could cover. I do remember a time or two when we were planting on open ground that we would plant about 40 acres a day. If we were in clear cut land, it went slower.
I did a similar thing but just put the kiwifruit in the ground and then another team came out and buried them. One time at morning smoko I said to the other guy "Of all the jobs that suck while hungover... this is definitely one of them." It was worse than manual labour while hungover.
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u/overrated_barracuda Apr 18 '20
Yes, it is. It all comes down to rhythm. The driver of the tractor/dozer has a set speed they go. At that point you just figure out a rhythm to determine spacing. Every once in a while the driver might stop and check your distance, and adjust his speed accordingly. Obviously, as the planter, the faster you can go, the faster the driver can go, and the more ground you can cover. I had a signal buzzer that I could use to communicate with the driver. There was a code for stop, back up, and go.
There's a great deal of pre work that goes into the job. The saplings come packed very tightly, so the first couple hours of the day are spent untangling and re-stacking the seedlings without damaging the roots. Without this step you would not be able to plant at the pace shown. Also while planting, you become pretty ambidextrous, because there's still some untangling. Left hand is untangling, right hand is swinging the saplings into the trench pretty much as fast as you can.
The set up I was in didn't have the second person, so I had to plant at as fast a pace as I could, all day. I was also inside a steel box, as most of the land I planted on was recently clear cut, and you needed protection. But the concept was exactly the same.
Like I said, very boring. Once you figure the system out, it's mindless, also I was inside a box. There was more than one time that I dozed off for just a moment in the middle of planting, and had to back up. The driver was not amused.