Move Mature Green in Minutes – Beyondtech’s skid steer tree spade Gives Cat, Bobcat, and Kubota Loaders the Power to Dig, Lift, and Re-Plant Without Breaking Soil Structure
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Not long ago, transplanting even a shoulder-high spruce required a truck-mount rig, burlap, wire baskets, and half a day of shovel work. Today a single compact loader can do the same job before morning coffee, thanks to Beyondtech’s new skid steer 4-blade tree spade—a four-blade tree spade engineered for the universal quick-attach plate on mainstream compact carriers. Whether your fleet leans on Cat’s high-flow radial units, Bobcat’s nimble vertical-lift machines, or Kubota’s sure-footed track loaders, this skid steer tree transplanter slices a perfect cone, protects the root web, and sets the tree in its new home with astonishing speed and accuracy.
Why a Four-Blade Design? Cleaner Ball, Happier Tree
Classic three-knife systems leave small flat faces in the cone, forcing crews to pack soil back in by hand. Beyondtech’s extra petal closes that gap, forming a seamless conical root ball spade that hugs roots in an unbroken soil shell. Less disturbance equals higher survival, which is why nursery managers call it a transplant success spade and arborists trust it for specimen moves. The blades themselves are laser-cut from HARDOX 450 tree spade plate—abrasion-proof, impact-tough, and slim enough to knife through clay without wedging. A double-bevel leading edge prunes horizontals clean, delivering that coveted “minimal root damage spade” reputation on every dig.
Speed and Control from the Cab
Two matched cylinders drive each opposing blade pair; a reversible oil supply spade valve lets operators plunge or retract simultaneously, eliminating out-of-sync stall that can twist a root ball. Controls mount to the loader’s auxiliary grip—Cat’s fingertip roller, Bobcat’s SJC pad, Kubota’s proportional thumb switch—creating a true cab-controlled tree spade workflow. You stab, clamp, lift, and carry without leaving the seat. Optional pressure dials convert to an adjustable pressure tree spade, so you tune push force for sandy golf-course loam one job and knobby pasture clay the next.
Because the tower is short and the carriage is an open frame tree spade, operators see blade tips from the glass. That visibility makes the attachment a tight space tree digger in nursery aisles and a narrow aisle tree spade between vineyard posts. A quick tug on the rocker flips the blades closed for transport; no floor mechanic needed.
Five Ball Sizes, One Machine
Blade stroke pins at five spots, turning a single chassis into a multi size tree spade able to form root balls from sapling spheres to medium street trees. Landscape crews use the shallow setting as a small diameter tree spade for under-story ornamentals, then roll two pins deeper and become a premium tree transplanter for boulevard lindens. Christmas growers pop seedlings with the tight cone, orchard managers shift to the mid-depth for espalier, park departments lean on the largest throw for 10-foot shade stock—all with one attachment, one hose set, zero extra weldments.
Built for the Dirt, Not for the Shop
A spade that spends half its life waiting on parts never pays its keep. Beyondtech welds the carriage from boxed tube, skins stress faces in high-strength steel tree spade plate, and gussets every pivot. Pins are grease-channeled, bushings nitrided, and the tower cap gets a V-rib so it won’t dish out when you pry a burl. Cylinders use common rod seals you can grab at any hydraulic counter—no proprietary service kits. Blade backs wear replaceable skid shoes; swap them and keep slicing. The result is a low maintenance tree spade that stays in the field long after the rental paperwork expires.
Universal Mount, Instant Workflow
Drive in, click the ISO latches, plug two flat-face lines—that’s the entire install. No pilot circuit, no case-drain drama. This quick attach tree spade jumps loader brands all day, which is why rental yards list it as their go-to rental yard tree spade from April through November. Municipal buyers appreciate a single SKU that fits every machine on the fleet roster; contractors value lost-minute swaps when a Cat goes down and a borrowed Bobcat fills in.
And if you need excavator reach but can’t justify a dedicated digger? Bolt-on ears turn the spade into an excavator adaptable tree spade. Tractor or truck mounting kits exist too, but most crews discover a skid steer’s high mobility beats a trailer every time—few tools can claim the same “tractor alternative tree spade” and “truck mount alternative spade” flexibility.
Where the Spade Pays for Itself
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Nursery tree spade digs field stock into wire baskets five times faster than hand spading.
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Landscape tree spade repositions mis-planted maples without renting a boom truck.
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Golf course tree spade shifts hazard pines in tight fairways before sunrise.
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Construction tree spade rescues heritage oaks from foundation footprints, storing them onsite till sod time.
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Orchard tree spade replants misses in a single pass.
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Christmas tree farm spade lifts root-balled firs ready for retail.
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Parks tree spade thins rows then re-populates new picnic groves.
Every transplant saves the budget line that would have bought new stock, transported it, staked it, and babied it for twice as long. That turns the attachment into a cost effective tree transplanter, not a pricey accessory.
Protecting the Root, Preserving the Crown
Blade overlap, a root ball preservation spade contour, and an optional trunk stabilizer tree spade collar ensure each specimen stays intact from dig to set. Lateral cutters run beneath the cone lip, giving you a pre-nipped ball that needs no extra pruning—an edge for arborists chasing survival percentages. Clamp gates hold the cone firm in transport; no wobble equals no fissures. At the destination, the spade doubles as a tree planting spade: just stab, open, back out, drop the ball, tamp, and water.
Field Stories—From Vineyard Rows to Highway Medians
A vineyard in Oregon used the spade on a Kubota SVL65 to shift hundreds of replacement vines in a single weekend, eliminating hand shovels and saving the tender grafts from heel injury. A Texas landscape contractor attached the unit to a Cat 299D and relocated live-oaks out of a new retail pad, folding blades narrow to clear parking stripes. Up north, a city forestry crew popped saplings out of a crowded boulevard with a Bobcat T76, then slotted them neatly into an expanded dog park without a dump truck in sight. All three crews declared it the most efficient tree spade investment of the season.
Beyondtech’s Green Guarantee
A durable tree spade does more than excavate soil; it conserves decades of growth, shade, and carbon storage. By making professional transplant gear accessible to compact loaders, we hand every arborist, contractor, and parks team the means to save existing canopy rather than purchasing new trees. That’s the sustainable win Beyondtech chases with every weld.
Pin on the high mobility tree spade. Dig. Transport. Plant. Watch survival rates rise and budgets fall. Your Cat, Bobcat, or Kubota just became the fastest tree mover on the lot—and the landscape will thank you for it.