5 ms·

But you can just add more drones. 2 people planting 36k trees per day is no small feat.

by Zequez 11y ago

hurin 11y ago
> But you can just add more drones. 2 people planting 36k trees per day is no small feat. According to GP: >> Chinese mainland reforestation programme plan was 4 mln ha/year 20 years ago. >> So, drones can plant, say pine seedlings with density of 4 thousand/ha (which is IMHO insufficient), which gives capacity of just 9 ha/day Suppose 180 working days a year that would give: 4 * 10^6 / (180 * 9/2) ~= 5000 operators That doesn't actually sound too bad, not sure how many drones per operator are counted for in the 36,000 trees per 2 operators with multiple drone numbers. One a side note this could still be well above the cost of human labor in third-world countries.
- ommunist 11y ago
  Thank you hurin, this is a good point. There are marginal costs however. Traditional planting sword is unbreakable. Drones are not. ПЛА-1 was widely criticised in the USSR for its cassette's low quality, and often failures (this is why ПЛА-1А was designed). The other thing is that drones offer only pre-germinated seedling as planting material. This goes well with light seedlings like pine and spruce. But how many oak acorns can be loaded? What about ultra-light seeds, like birch? What about tropical species? The technology is promising, but it will take at least 20 years for it to make its way to industrial forestry with trial and error. I myself would appreciate to see planting drones pack in every forestry range in Russia (with their ZALA UAV they can do that). But I am afraid this particular one is more of a hoax to cover some scheme behind trading carbon quotas, than a real thing. I would like to think otherwise, but years in the industry made me cynical. I am deeply sorry about that.
ommunist 11y ago
Well, here is traditional way. 16 kg tool - planting sword. No kids allowed. Up, down, turn to yourself, put sapling turn from yourself, up, step forward, repeat. 8 hrs straight, 2 breaks 30 min each. Roughly 30 sec/sapling is bad speed. 1000 saplings per man/day. Modern tech is better, when you plant pots into machine-made hole, but I never practiced that. UPD: here is the video instruction for this process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MhT7dbB1c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MhT7dbB1c
- jonah 11y ago
  Nice demo. Here's a video of guys doing it at production speed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU-7NffSSHk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU-7NffSSHk Another common tool (in the US at least) is the Hoedad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gPVuITMgc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gPVuITMgc
  - ommunist 11y ago
    Thanks! That's a good one. These peons are using very light version, probably 6 kilos or such. The original Kolesov's planting sword is very heavy. But mind the Darth Vader style of breating in that video. This is very true.

But you can just add more drones. 2 people planting 36k trees per day is no small feat.

by Zequez 11y ago

But you can just add more drones. 2 people planting 36k trees per day is no small feat.

hurin 11y ago

> But you can just add more drones. 2 people planting 36k trees per day is no small feat. According to GP: >> Chinese mainland reforestation programme plan was 4 mln ha/year 20 years ago. >> So, drones can plant, say pine seedlings with density of 4 thousand/ha (which is IMHO insufficient), which gives capacity of just 9 ha/day Suppose 180 working days a year that would give: 4 * 10^6 / (180 * 9/2) ~= 5000 operators That doesn't actually sound too bad, not sure how many drones per operator are counted for in the 36,000 trees per 2 operators with multiple drone numbers. One a side note this could still be well above the cost of human labor in third-world countries.

ommunist 11y ago
Thank you hurin, this is a good point. There are marginal costs however. Traditional planting sword is unbreakable. Drones are not. ПЛА-1 was widely criticised in the USSR for its cassette's low quality, and often failures (this is why ПЛА-1А was designed). The other thing is that drones offer only pre-germinated seedling as planting material. This goes well with light seedlings like pine and spruce. But how many oak acorns can be loaded? What about ultra-light seeds, like birch? What about tropical species? The technology is promising, but it will take at least 20 years for it to make its way to industrial forestry with trial and error. I myself would appreciate to see planting drones pack in every forestry range in Russia (with their ZALA UAV they can do that). But I am afraid this particular one is more of a hoax to cover some scheme behind trading carbon quotas, than a real thing. I would like to think otherwise, but years in the industry made me cynical. I am deeply sorry about that.

ommunist 11y ago

Well, here is traditional way. 16 kg tool - planting sword. No kids allowed. Up, down, turn to yourself, put sapling turn from yourself, up, step forward, repeat. 8 hrs straight, 2 breaks 30 min each. Roughly 30 sec/sapling is bad speed. 1000 saplings per man/day. Modern tech is better, when you plant pots into machine-made hole, but I never practiced that. UPD: here is the video instruction for this process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MhT7dbB1c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6MhT7dbB1c

jonah 11y ago
Nice demo. Here's a video of guys doing it at production speed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU-7NffSSHk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU-7NffSSHk Another common tool (in the US at least) is the Hoedad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gPVuITMgc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1gPVuITMgc
- ommunist 11y ago
  Thanks! That's a good one. These peons are using very light version, probably 6 kilos or such. The original Kolesov's planting sword is very heavy. But mind the Darth Vader style of breating in that video. This is very true.