transplanting trees with backhoe

[JimMorrissey]

I've got an opportunity to transplant a number of fine fir trees in the near future. The trees currently live on a friends property and he offered them to me before he chips them. They're the remains of an old Christmas tree farm.

My question is.....how am I going to get them successfully transplanted? I've got a backhoe with a 24" bucket and a quick attach front end. I'd rather not have to buy anything like an expensive tree spade. Will the hoe be too blunt an object to successfully remove the tree and root system? My gut says yes, but I'd love to hear some success stories using a hoe to transplant trees.

I'm open to any suggestions.

The trees are about 4" in diameter and about 15' tall. The root ball if they were pulled with a spade would likely fit in a 44" basket and weigh roughly 1800lbs.

 

[RobS]

I think we're all going to need to know how big the trees are to give you all the help you need /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[JimMorrissey]

I updated my original post with the sizes. Forgot to add that little tidbit of info /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[RobS]

Ah, big trees!

I helped a bud move a shrub last summer with my backhoe. Trenched around four sides with the hoe leaving a square root ball intact. Dug a ramp affair on one of the sides then used the FEL to go under the whole thing. I got this from This Old House where they used the same technique for a MUCH larger tree. Took a full sized front loader to move theirs.

Trouble with this method is it's slow and you disrupt a lot of the surrounding soil /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Buck]

Jim,

I've tried all three methods. I have a neighbor with a XMass tree farm too.

Tree spade.
Pro=Speed.
Con= Survival of my tree spaded pines are poor. Why? Root ball depth less important in pines. Width is more important.

FEL with toothbar
Pro: Life of tree.
Con: Time.
Comment: make sure to get wide roots going horizontally. These roots will eventially keep the tree standing better in winter winds than tree spaded trees. I find I can take the braces off my trees transpanted earlier than the tree spaded trees.

If I were you and I had a backhoe on my CUT, I'd use the BH to outline the area to be picked up by the FEL.

The BH method alone is to tough for the wide area associated with a 15' pine. Difficult to transport.

 

[tawilson]

I'll be doing some of the same with my bh. One tidbit I picked up was to loosen the soil around the hole you dig for your tree. It helps the roots get established.

 

[Scozz]

I transplanted 6 white pines last summer using my backhoe. They were a small of 10' to a tall of 15'. 3-5" trunks I lost 3 of them. I think mostly due to lack of water though. They were transplanted about 500" from my house and watering them was a PIA. I'll bet if I had been more diligent the sucess would have been higher ... Scozz

 

[SPIKER]

I did this with my back hoe on my CUT 2 months back:

2 were 10+' tall and 3~4" trunk I dug reciever holes first and were too deep so my survival may not be god on these two. the smaller ones I didn't dig holes untill I had them there.

I used CUT hoe to dig around base (size of the branches outwards) and down about 2+ feet all way around & used FEL to pry em out. this wasn't so good as I should have dug deeper, tap root was broken on both of them this way. (experment anyhow moving em under high power lines where they were to be cut down)

I moved them 1/4 mile and in doing so lost a lot of dirt around outlaying roots. bad. and the deep dug holes were worse though as I couldn't back fil with out going onto stump. (likely these 2 will croke) dig hole shallower and fill (hump up) dirt around them to depth.)

anyhow moving them was the hardest part, need to get them into something to keep the dirt root ball intack

mark M

 

[JimMorrissey]

Buck,

I went back to the farm today to check out the situation in more detail. The trees are close together, so I'll have to eliminate the two trees to the sides of the one(s) I want. I'll start by digging a trench on the sides then scooping the "root ball" up with the loader....

My question is, how or what do I use to keep the soil intact and the ball from crumbling apart on the way home? I have to move these trees up onto a dump trailer, then transport them on a 4x4 trail (not too rough with some ruts), then transport them about 15 minutes north of the farm. It's not going to be easy. Any ideas on how to keep the ball intact, if I'm not using wire baskets? I don't think the large area cut by the bucket would fit in a basket anyway. Burlap maybe?....don't know how well that would hold up going that kind of distance over that kind of terrain.

I thinking about moving 12 or more 15'ers.

 

[WhyNot]

With that many tree's that big have you thought about hiring a landscaper with a spade mounted on a truck? I'm sure it would not be cheap but all you would have to do would be to mark the location of the tree's, go to work, come home and it would be done. Saving more time for "fun" spring chore's like mulching and raking gravel out of the grass.