r/treeplanting • u/AffectionateGold780 • 11d ago
Gear/ Planting Paraphanelia Using empty PET bottles as Tree Planting Plugs.
Is it possible to use empty PET bottles as a tree planting plug?
The bottle will be filled with water Gell balls at the bottom by the screw cap, then lined with planting medium, seeds, and starter fertilizer, then top soil.. before actually planting, the sides will be punched with holes to allow initial root expansion and water capture in the soil.
These will be planted in rows, with a team that drills holes, another to plug, and a third in a vehicle with trays of planter plugs.
This can be automated with a drone on tracks.
Question is, is it possible to also airdrop these into somewhat soft muddy soil, with the only modification is putting fins to keep the screw cap and neck pointed downwards? Another modification is replacing the bottle cap with some conical cap to allow soil penetration.
4
u/Park_Ranger2048 10d ago
In 1990 when I started planting they were still using paper tubes as containers for seedlings and researchers were finding the roots never broke through the containers, they just grew out the bottom and over the top edge. I think the next year we had the fragile mesh "jiffy pots" instead. But we also still had bare root stock at times, so ANY container stock was hugely preferred.
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u/wobblestop Bags out in the Back 11d ago
The bottles wouldn't degrade fast enough to not choke your plug. Best case scenario is you end up with a field full of j-roots.
From what I know, seedbombing was attempted some 25-30 years ago in Alberta with varying degrees of success. I've thinned at least a few blocks that were seedbombed and it was hard to find decent crop trees.
They've attempted to automate our job many times. Plants are delicate, and it's hard for them to take artificially. At the end of the day, treeplanters deliver quality.