Plant it once, move it again—Sibom’s skid steer tree spade gives every CAT®, Bobcat®, and Kubota® loader the power to transplant trees with nursery-grade precision

Planting a young maple or relocating a mature evergreen used to demand a trailer-size truck spade, a three-person ground crew, and a schedule that bent around subcontractor availability. Now a single operator sitting in the cab of a compact track loader can scoop, lift, transport, and reset a living tree—root ball intact—thanks to Sibom’s new skid steer 3-blade tree spade family. Designed from the first weld to marry dozer-style toughness with arborist finesse, this three-blade tree spade slips onto any universal quick-tach plate, couples through flat-face ports, and turns hydraulic flow into a clean, V-shaped bite that protects fragile feeder roots and maximizes transplant survival.

One attachment, dozens of landscapes

Landscape contractors love the tool as a skid steer tree transplanting attachment because they can reposition specimen plantings on a redesign and leave no stump holes behind. Municipal crews tuck it into tight boulevards where bucket excavators can’t swing. Golf courses stealth-move saplings away from errant tee shots, and Christmas-tree farmers pop perfectly shaped spruce into retail burlap with a single squeeze. Rental yards stock the medium-frame version as a rental yard tree spade and see high weekend turnover from homeowners catching mature shrubs before driveway pours.

Whether it is park shade work, orchard infilling, or vineyard re-spacing, the Sibom tree transplanter skid steer makes the most of the loader you already own—CAT yellow, Bobcat white, Kubota orange, or any brand wearing an ISO plate.

A study in steel and root science

Blades that slice, not tear

Each shovel is a full-thickness, abrasive-resistant alloy machined into a V-shape tree spade profile. That geometry gives a natural taper to the root ball so the tree seats easily into a matching hole and roots flare outward in their new home. The edges overlap in the patented overlapping blade tree spade pattern—no open seams that shear bark or shred rootlets. Outside faces are hard-coated for glacial till; inside faces are smooth to protect cambium.

Frame that will not flex

A boxed tower wraps twin lift rails, making a reinforced frame tree spade that refuses to rack under uneven clay loads. Gate clamps tie the blades together at full depth to form a solid cone, locking soil inside and earning the design its root ball secure spade reputation. We then gusset every hinge with high-strength inserts so the frame wears the Sibom badge of a heavy-duty tree spade meant for decades, not seasons.

Cylinders that deliver confidence

Twin bore-matched rams cycle the blades. On CAT high-flow machines they drive fast enough for production digging; on Bobcat and Kubota standard circuits they feather precisely for delicate saplings. Flow-split blocks keep timing true, giving the spade its precision tree digging attachment cred even when only one blade meets stubborn stone first. Because the cylinders mount behind guard wings, branch snags and pallet fork rubs never scar the chrome.

Five root-ball sizes, one quick-change tower

Root balls vary—from ornamental crabs the size of a medicine ball to 12-foot conifers demanding huge soil cones. Sibom answers with a five-size tree ball spade kit. Pop two pins, slide the limit collars, choose the blade index, and the same attachment becomes a multiple tree size spade. Landscapers chasing tight city alleys run a short tower, Christmas-tree farms bolt on a long collar, municipalities pick the mid-tower for boulevard ash transplants. No need for multiple implements; this is the ultimate adjustable root ball spade for every season’s plant list.

Compact loader agility meets professional transplant science

Traditional truck spades can’t reach a backyard past a six-foot gate; the short-tower tree spade bolts to a Kubota SSV and threads directly through. Mini-skid operators spec the compact tree spade frame—under six feet tall—yet still lift a twenty-four-inch root ball for close planting in tight urban patios. The tight space tree spade also wins on construction sites where graders and trenchers crowd staging zones: move shade stock away from excavators, then drop them back when the sub-grade compacts.

Root health equals transplant success

A good transplant lives or dies on feeder-root integrity. Sibom’s root damage minimizing spade edge enters soil in one motion—no scissors action—to prune outward rootlets cleanly. Those cuts callus fast, and because the ball is conical, transport systems like a wire basket tree spade or shrink-wrap seat snug without gaps. A trunk stabilizer tree spade ring on larger towers braces against bark so the operator never scuffs cambium by over-tilt. Combined, these details deliver a documented high success transplant spade record across multiple soil regimes.

Operator-first ergonomics

Cab finger-tip toggles run all cylinders; no external valve boxes. High-visibility side rails and an open-frame tree spade tower keep the shovel tips in sight even from the tall cab of a CAT 299. A dead-man seat switch prevents accidental blade swing while the driver steps out to strap wrap. Because the tool stays under ten feet high, an overhead door never clips the mast. That mix of safety and simplicity crowns this unit the most operator friendly tree spade in its class.

Built for the long haul

• Low maintenance tree spade design: one grease cluster feeds all hinge points.

• Blade shoe inserts replace in minutes when shale finally chews them down.

• Powder-coat over zinc primer resists fertilizer acids at nursery yards.

• Cylinders rebuild from rod end, no need to drop the tower.

Professional arborists call it the premium tree transplant attachment because five years on, the pivots still read factory tight.

Real-world returns

• A Midwest landscape contractor moved seventy mature junipers in two weeks—all on a Bobcat T740—tripling project profit by skipping a truck-spade subcontractor.

• A Texas municipality transplanted park live oaks during sidewalk reconstruction with a single CAT track loader and Sibom municipality tree spade, eliminating replacement-tree purchases.

• An Oregon Christmas tree farm cut labor by forty percent after fitting Kubota loaders with our Christmas tree farm transplanter package, churning rows at harvest pace while keeping root balls intact for retail stands.

When overhead sinks and plant mortality drops, the attachment pays for itself in a single season.

Ordering the right Sibom spade

Add rear stabilizers for loose soil, trunk pad kit for thin bark species, and a basket crimper for commercial nursery workflows. Every unit ships hydraulically tested, torque-tagged, powder-coated Sibom yellow, couplers installed. Clip it to the loader you already trust—CAT, Bobcat, Kubota—and start moving mature landscape assets like potted shrubs.

With Sibom’s hydraulic tree spade skid steer attachment, the tree survives, the operator smiles, and every loader hour earns like never before. Dig, lift, transplant—repeat. That’s productivity, rooted in steel.