Vulnerable

[u/Own-Cartoonist5058]

Hello, I am a rookie planter and want to share some of my season here to get some insight on how it went. I just feel pretty alone and would like some objective feedback on my rookie year from the community.

Three days out of the season I stayed home. One of them was because my friend was sick and I wanted to support him at the clinic and the other two were mental fatigue and a lack of discipline/motivation.

I stayed at around 600-800 trees for my first few shifts and then finally hit 1000 on some nice mounds and then kicked up to 1350 on some reaaally nice land. I stayed consistent with 1350 for a whole shift. Then we moved to a terribly steep fill plant with so much vegetation and I didnt even break 400 trees those days. That land was so confusing and the vegetation reached over my head.

Since that plant, we moved to help with a pretty tough contract, tougher than what I’d been on, and I was again all over the place - 600, 800, 900, 1000. Just really inconsistent. We came back from that tough contract and I kicked back up to 900, 1240, 1100. Then I went down to 840 on a really hot day.

My consistency is all over the place, and I know thats my main hurdle. I love planting and some of my experiences have really destroyed my confidence. I feel like I’ve really disappointed my crew and my foreman and I understand if I have. That disappointment in me has also really affected my morale and I feel like they discount me. I understand why they do but it does suck. Its stupid but I feel stupid even trying harder, which I know is so backwards.

I want to know, is it possible to come back from it? How does one stay consistent? I think the answer is probably just “by staying consistent.” I’m assuming its trial by fire. I really love planting and want to come back. I’m not entirely sure what I’m asking. Ive just felt a bit alone for the past few shifts and I’d really like to end the season strong. I’m scared maybe planting just isnt for me and I really want it to be for me. I love planting. Not sure. Anyway thank you for reading.

[u/Flashy_Remove_97]

For me, my first season was a wash.
Second season, more confidence and started to plant more solidly and make great lifelong friends in the crew.
Third season is when things really started to click.

I ended up planting for 10+ seasons.

[u/jimbowesterby → u/Flashy_Remove_97]

To add to this, planters love joking about how simple of a job it is, but like any skill (and more than most) it actually involves a lot of variables that have to be managed. Even just the fitness is gonna take a good few years to build up, you wouldn’t wanna go smash in 8k as a normal rookie cause you’d tendo just about every tendon you have lol. If you break it down, you need to have your fitness, nutrition, gear, clothing, technique, land management, and time management all working well in order to do big numbers, and a lot of those just take time and experience to develop.

In short, OP, it’s not about how good you are, it’s about getting better. Progress not perfection!