Speeding up?

[norther]

Does anyone have any tips for speeding up?
I've been planting for two months now and my average is probably 160$ with a high point of 220$. So probably an average of 900 trees. Does this sound at all reasonable for my relative inexperience?
I already time myself from bag up to bag up.

[barnbill]

sure ....just go faster

[mel_eff]

I heard smoking crack helps

[jdtesluk]

Focus on technique, and watch the vets move- see what they are doing that you are not. Also, ask you foreperson (or someone who is fast) to give you some coaching. Offer a highballer you respect a few beers for their professional critique of your technique. Don't worry about pushing yourself harder physically until your technique is better. Pushing harder can hurt you, refining your movement is less likely to do so and will help you conserve energy.

[newforest]

focus on reading the ground in front of you with your eyes and brain while you are moving forward, and while your feet and arms are doing something you don't need to look at, such as making the hole.

also focus on the technique of having a seedling available right at ground-level just as the planting tool comes out of the ground....replace the tool blade with the seedling. and thus never move the blade more than a few inches away from the planting spot.

the main way to get faster is mentally

[dreamofcream]

work harder

[zilla]

caffeine, taurine, 90s offspring and sleeping with the checker.

[mel_eff]

Take five bundles of trees every bagup and fucking throw them into the treeline. That should push your numbers up.

[Ben Mac]

Ignore those previous comments...My tips are work smart not harder
-Eat very little at each cache break, bag up your trees as soon as you get back to the cache, slam some water and just giver...
-Develop a good flagging system where you are never fumbling to rip flag if you are a flagger.
-Unwrap all of your trees, or if your not allowed to sneakily do it anyways
-Look up when you are planting your tree, instead of looking at the ground that way you will see the next spot quicker.
-Never stop to think about a microsite...just look the a close stump plant it and keep moving...


There are just some little tips that help me out even after 5 years...Just remember be consistent.

Mac

[Duncan]

bag up your trees as soon as you get back to the cache,

always...

[mel_eff]

Alright I was kidding about the crack and the stashing. But I do second the bagging up right when you get to the cache tip.

When I time my bagups I always make sure the cache break is included in that time. It's fun to compete against yourself in a sense, and try to beat your last time.

I eat a lot of plain food on the block, like peanuts and tofu and vegetables. Shit that's not going to rile up my guts or make me gassy. There's nothing worse than smashing back a couple pepperoni sticks and some tangy cheese and smelling it for the rest of your bagup and onward. Just make sure you're on your game. The rest will come with time and focus.

And make sure you can plant good quality trees and go fast. I'm sure the first time you start really flying, the quality will suffer a bit. The difference between a pounder and a tree slut is tree quality.

My one cardinal rule during bagups is that I always have a tree in my hand. The only time there isn't a seedling in my hand is when I'm reaching into my draw bag for another. As soon as the bags strap on, there is a seedling ready to go.

And a little bit of crack never hurts.

[ekim]

Practice, practice, practice...and always strive to find a more efficient way of working.

[Sebastian]

I absolutely agree that technique is what allows planters to become pounders, and that little tricks like short trips to the cache and unbundling everything save some time.

However, the largest contributing factor to production is effort. Planters who you find sweating and breathing hard will be making more than those who are not, unless there is a huge disparity in technique. Technique takes a while to develop, while you can decide to work your ass off on any given bagup.

When I plant, I can do a very casual bagup in 50 minutes to an hour, but if I'm focused on working hard, and if I'm breathing hard and sweating heavily a quarter of the way into my bagup, I can get that time down to 30 to 40 minutes. Over the course of a day, a focus on working hard can make an enormous difference.

[Seabass]

Take five bundles of trees every bagup and fucking throw them into the treeline. That should push your numbers up.

Now now, that only works in Ontario where stashing's a legit way of making money