Fertilizer attachment for tree-planting machine : a progress report

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ARS 42-70
SEPTEMBER 1962

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Research Service

FERTILIZER ATTACHMENT FOR TREE-PLANTING MACHINE:

A Progress Report

R. W. S taros tka, R. E. MacBride, and W. C. Hulburti^

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture and W. R. Grace and Company are
cooperating in a study to test fertilizers designed expressly for
silviculture and to develop an attachment to the tree-planting machine
for applying the fertilizers at planting time. In the past few seasons,

W. R. Grace and Company has developed such fertilizers. 2/ They are
designed to make nutrients available to the trees for up to 2 years,
depending on the size of the fertilizer particles.

One of the fertilizers being tested is an 8-40-0 fertilizer (magnesium
ammonium phosphate). Because it is nonburning, it offers the possibility
of safe contact with roots when applied at planting time. This safety
feature is desirable, as separate placement of fertilizer is extremely
difficult if not entirely impractical in soils where most trees are
transplanted .

This progress report deals mainly with tests made during 1961 on the
method of applying 8-40^0 fertilizer at planting time.

jL / Supervisor and Agronomist, Agricultural Chemicals Research, W. R. Grace
and Company, and W. C. Hulburt, Head, Planting and Fertilizing Equipment
and Practices Investigations, Agricultural Engineering Research Division,
Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Beltsville, Md., respectively. Acknowledgment is given to H. J. Retzer
and D. B. Eldredge, Research Agricultural Engineer and Engineering
Technician, respectively, of Agricultural Engineering Research Division,
Agricultural Research Service, for assistance in developing some of the
special equipment used and in putting in some of the field trials of
this cooperative study.

2 / Bridger, G. L., Salutsky, M. L., and Starostka, R. W. Metal Ammonium
Phosphates as Fertilizers. Jour. Agr . & Food Chem. 10:181-188, 1962.

A fertilizer applicator was adapted for use with a heavy-duty tree
planter (Lowther) 1' for the 1961 tree-planting tests. The attachment
consisted primarily of (1) a funnel and drop tube to the slotted standard
or runner, (2) a seat, (3) two racks for fertilizer drums, and (4) a
timing switch on one of the press wheels to activate a battery-operated
buzzer. Details of the attachment are shown in figures 1 and 2. '4/

Two men are required to use the fertilizer attachment. One man
selects and meters the amount of fertilizer for each transplant. This
man sits atop the machine between two drums of material and, on hearing
the buzzer, drops measured cups of fertilizer into the funnel. The tree
setter matches the plant with the strip of applied fertilizer. The length
of the fertilizer band can be varied by changing ground speed of the
machine or particle size of the fertilizer (figure 3). An alert operator
can apply various amounts and kinds of fertilizer for each plot without
stopping or slowing down the machine between plot treatments.

Trees were planted on experimental plots totaling about 30 acres during
April 1961 at the Washington Research Center of W. R. Grace and Company,
Clarksburg, Md., and on nearby Maryland State Park lands. Plantings
included Norway spruce, black locust, loblolly pine, white pine, tulip
poplar, red pine, larch, and Austrian pine. Treatments included no
fertilizer (control), and 1, 2, 4, and 8 ounces of 8-40-0 fertilizer per
seedling. Each plot had 36 trees, and the plots were replicated three
times at each location.

Data obtained 4 months after planting indicated no significant
differences in survival due to species, management, or fertilizer.

Average survival for more than 10,000 fertilized trees was 92.3 percent.

Growth responses were measured 8 months after planting, and are
expressed in terms of significant new growth and increase in diameter and
in wood volume of trees fertilized with 8-40-0 as compared to the controls.
Significant results are as follows: Austrian pine, 14.7 percent increase

in diameter with 2 ounces of fertilizer; tulip poplar, 67.0 percent

3/ Mention in this publication of commercially manufactured equipment

does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture over
similar equipment not mentioned.

4/ Prints of the experimental fertilizer attachment at the scale of the
original drawing can be obtained from the Agricultural Engineering
Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Beltsville, Md.

TOP VIEW

BRACKET FOR
FERTILIZER DRUM

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FERTILIZER ATTACHMENT FOR TREE PLANTER

ADDED PARTS ARE SHADED

SCALE IN INCHES

Figure 1 - Fertilizer Attachment for Tree Planter

3

ELECTRICAL SIGNALER

DIAGRAM

BUZZER MOUNTED ON
FUNNEL (CAN BE
HEARD OR FELT)

.STATIONARY CONTACT SPRING
(INSULATED FROM FRAME)

ROTATING CONTACT
PIN IN RIM

BATTERY-

GROUNDED TO FRAME ' CnSIDE OF PRESSWHEEL

Figure 2 - Electrical Signaler Diagram

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Figure 3 - Dimensions of Fertilizer Bands

increase in wood volume with 8 ounces; black locust, 307.0 percent
increase in wood volume with 4 ounces, loblolly pine, 34.8 and
40.5 percent increase in new growth with 1 and 2 ounces, respectively.
Differences for the other varieties and treatments were not significant.

In a few of the field trials, a semiautomatic transplanter (Powell)
with a fertilizer attachment was adapted to tree planting and was used
in conjunction with the heavy-duty tree planter. It was used to study
mechanical selection and setting of seedling, continuous banding versus
hill placement of fertilizer, and planting at the right-angle intersection
of two slots with and without fertilizer (similar to check-row planting
for better branching of roots). The spacing of seedlings and the hills
or strips of fertilizer could be varied by timing mechanisms rather than
by relying on ground speed, diameter of press wheels, or size of particles.

Although a heavy-duty runner, a large size colter, and other rugged
construction materials were used, the semiautomatic transplanter was not
strong enough to serve adequately on most tree-planting sites. In most
studies with this second planter, the heavy-duty tree planter was run
through the plot strips to fracture the slot before the lighter machine
was used to plant and fertilize the seedlings.

Current research and field trials are being directed toward
developing fertilizer attachments for commercial tree planters that can
be operated mechanically rather than manually,,

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Conduit in planting shoe

Fertilizing while planting

Dropping fertilizer into conduit

Fertilizer at bottom of
planting slit

Growth Through Agricultural Progress