Moving Trees with a tree spade?

[Cdash]

Anyone done it or know anything about it?

We are considering moving some trees on our property. We have lots of nice maple trees on our property, but nothing but wild cherry's near our house. I'd like to rent a spade on a large skid steer (for mobility sake) and move a few. All of the tree spades I see on the internet all refer to evergreen size. Would a maple transplant similarly, or is there root system larger, requiring a larger soil plug to move?

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Dargo]

I just had some trees moved last fall. The basic rule of thumb I was told was to have a tree spade that used a 10 to 1". That is 10" of tree spade width for every 1" of the caliper of the tree trunk. My trees were 8 to 9" in caliper and required a very large 90" tree spade to move them. It was a huge tree spade. Although it was somewhat expensive, I got all of my trees moved and none of them died. The rental units were only big enough for a tree that was about 6 feet tall or so. I'd used a 5 gallon bucket and a spade to move those. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[joes_427_vette]

On 3 houses I built we had imported trees. I hired the biggest spade I could find to make sure the trees got enough root structure to survive. One company had a tandem axel truck / spade combinaton which worked great. Only death was a white birch clump, and they are not known for longevity. Instant shade is great. Good luck with your project.