By Alan Sherrard

One of the most talked-about demonstrations at Elmia Wood 2025 came from Swedish firm PlantMa Forestry AB, which held its European premiere of the PlantMax dual soil prep and mechanised tree planting solution – the machine that "everyone has heard of, but no one has seen".

Working largely under the radar, a prototype underwent trials in 2020 at three major Swedish forest industry companies, planting over one million seedlings before moving to North America. It then conducted demonstrations in the US Southeast, progressing to Canada, where it has been planting for a major Canadian forest industry company in New Brunswick.

The first serial production versions of the PlantMax were delivered during 2022, and the company currently has units working in Sweden, Brazil, and New Zealand.

"It's inspiring to showcase a fully operational and efficient planting system. Many people still don't realise how far this technology has come. This isn't the future, it's already here. PlantMax is spreading rapidly across the world, and demand will increase after Elmia Wood", said Magnus Sandström, CEO of Plantma Forestry.

The PlantMax was mounted on an EcoLog 584 forwarder. According to Christer Larsson, Product Manager at Plantma Forestry, the maximum planting capacity in perfect conditions is 3,000 plants per hour. In Swedish conditions, the rate is between 1,500 and 2,400 seedlings per hour.

Without negating the value of the ground preparation part, it is when the planting arms start working that attracts spectator attention. Each arm works individually, sensing the soil and not planting until it is "happy" that it has found the best planting spot. The planting process can be integrated with fertiliser application if desired.

PlantMax is operated by two operators, one in the forwarder cab and one in the planting cab. The soil preparation section sends signals about the soil conditions to the planting arms, so it becomes very flexible.

The soil preparation unit is mounted separately in the centre of the forwarder and can be operated independently to do soil preparation work before rolling out of the stand, explained Christer Larsson.

Cameras monitor all stages and collect data, allowing one to follow the machine's work remotely in real-time via the PlantMax Live Data function. The machine saves all the data collected, for example, the exact position of each plant, which provides a basis for future interventions in the stand. It can hold up to 24,000 plants, which means a full day's work can be completed without needing to reload.

"I would liken it to when the harvester saw the light of day in the 1970s. We are facing the same revolution here," remarked Larsson.