This is not an alien ship, just a Dutchman 100 Tree Spade, or in other words a truck-mounted machine with a four-blade system designed to pull trees up by their 15,000-pound root balls. To be more specific, the spade’s 4-blades are mounted onto hydraulically-powered towers – fixed to a circular hinged frame – that enable them to surround the tree on all sides. Once properly positioned around the base of the tree, hydraulic rams plunge each blade sequentially into the earth to lift the tree from its hole. Continue reading for another video and more information.
With smaller models, like the Arbor Co 2100 Super Spade (video above), the entire tree is lifted onto the bed of a truck for transportation, while larger units, like the Dutchman 100-inch TruckSpade, can gouge a 15″ diameter tree from the ground, along with its 15,000-pound root ball, in minutes.
