The Latest Nursery Tools for Landscaping and Agriculture

By John Janes Landscaping Marketing Manager Caterpillar Building Construction Products Division

For wholesaler landscape operations, commercial landscapers and row crop farmers, the process of getting plants from one place to another often involves a great deal of manual labor — and with worker shortages so prevalent lately, such processes can present significant challenges. To address this issue, one of the topics we at Caterpillar covered at Green & Growin’ 23 involved the use of nursery tools to help make this type of work quicker and less labor-intensive.

Why Use Nursery Tools?

Readying row crops for sale or loading ornamental trees onto a truck at a wholesaler or can be time-consuming work, often requiring the manpower of several people to accomplish without damaging the plants. Nursery tools are designed to help by eliminating the need for some of that manpower, freeing up employees to work on different tasks and improving overall productivity. Nursery tools also can help maneuver plants more carefully, so they don’t get damaged during the moving process.

Types of Nursery Tools

Several different types of nursery tools are available to help you be more efficient on the job:

• Nursery forks: Compatible with compact wheel loaders, nursery forks are ideal for loading rows of plants. Unlike regular forks, nursery forks are angled to pick up a container or wrapped plant. They can also be swept at an angle to clamp down on plants and transport them without causing damage.

• Nursery grapples: Also compatible with compact wheel loaders, nursery grapples are especially useful when moving heavier plants like trees. Cut to the standard angle of how root bulbs are dug, grapple paddles can rotate left/right and up/down — which is handy, for example, when laying trees flat in a truck bed.

• Mulch buckets: For a landscape supply house, a mulch bucket can be a good addition to the fleet. Designed with a narrower profile, these buckets fit comfortably in the bed of a truck without causing damage, and are compatible with both skid steer loaders and compact wheel loaders.

How Might You Use These Tools in Your Operations?

A wholesaler could use nursery forks or a nursery grapple just about anywhere, from moving plants and pallets to loading trees in truck beds. Landscapers on commercial projects might use an auger to dig the proper hole for a plant, and then a fork to place it in the right spot. Arborists and farmers could use nursery forks and grapples to ready trees or other row crops for shipment.

In short, these versatile tools can be a big help on your job sites — especially if you’re dealing with labor shortage issues. Want to learn more about nursery tools? Check out the latest offerings from Caterpillar.