Since the plant material to be installed includes seeds, bulbs, bedding plants, groundcovers, and trees and shrubs of all sizes, a wide range of tools must be available to accomplish the installation. The hand tools most commonly used are shown and described in Figure 10-1.
As plant materials increase in size, hand tools must be supplemented with power tools. The tree spade makes possible the successful transplant of large trees and shrubs (Figure l0-2). It operates on a hydraulic system, with each movement controlled from a set of levers that permits the machine to be operated by anyone, regardless of physical strength. Other power tools helpful in the installation of landscape plants include the power auger, power tiller, tractor, front-end loader, back hoe, trencher, and the Tree-Porter™. The latter, like the tree spade, is used to transplant large trees. The machine drives individual steel blades into the soil around the tree to be moved. The blades are like steel sheets and cut through the root system. When all four blades are in place, the root system has been encased in a soil cube. The blades are then locked together and the tree lifted with a hoist for movement to a new location.
