I always considered “Strip the Willow” quite a tedious dance – not unlike planting large numbers of trees. I set myself a target and tell myself I can’t go in for a cuppa until I have planted that many.
I use a tree planting spade which has a long thin blade. This goes in, often several times, until I find a rock free area where I can sink the full blade. I then waggle it back and forth to make a deep slit. The whip roots are thrust down in to the slit and then the gap is closed with my heel. I pull back any grass and heel down well to delay the regrowth of any grass. Then the stake goes in, banged home with a large lump hammer which I throw down in the grass and lose with monotonous regularity. After the stake I ease a plastic guard over the tree and tighten the tie wrap.
Commercially, once the trees are in, they spray the area around the tree with a herbicide, however, I would rather replant more trees than adopt this environmentally questionable approach. The field is full of mice and ground nesting birds and I can not believe that widespread spraying would not impact adversely on their welfare.
Another 54 trees in today. Over half planted now. I am concerned that the weather will be too hot for planting at the weekend, so I have placed the remaining bare root whips in a bucket of water in the shade and hope they will survive until better conditions return.