Need to move a tree

[Halifax]

The house I'm buying has a very skinny driveway, and I'll need to widen it and make some parking spaces.

There is a ~10ft tall ornamental tree that will have to be moved.

I have no idea what it is, and if I will kill it when trying to move it with my Ford 575D backhoe.

Here is a picture of what the leaves look like, and the seed pods that hang from the tree:



What kind of tree is it?

 

[Carykong]

where is the picture?

 

[roadhawk]

It's that rare invisible "what did I run into?" tree lol. Seed pods make me think about a Catalpa, but there are certainly many others. Is this it?

Catalpa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Gary Fowler]

Well I dont see a photo, but as a rule, the roots of a tree extend the distance that the limbs extend. If you can dig out a circle as large as the limb diameter, you will be good to go. The chances are pretty good that if you go half the distance and get a good deep root ball it will live with regular watering. Anything less is a gamble. A 10 foot tall tree should not be a problem to relocate with a large back hoe. Likely one deep scoop will uproot all you need. I think I would dig out a bucket deep on all four sides, staying away from the tree the needed distance, then run the bucket under it and lift it out.

 

[rambler]

Some trees have wide shallow root system, some have a very deep thick tap root.

Try to figure out which type this is, the deep tap root ones are fussy, if you cut off that deep tap root they get very unhappy. the shallow type if you keep watered after moving they eventually regrow their wide shallow root system. In general.

--->Paul

 

[woodlandfarms]

Please remember time of year. We transplant frequently with a 70% success rate. You are at the very end of a transplant season... Best to transplant when it the tree is dormant.