Transplanted Tree

[Tractors4u]

I moved in to my new house February 25th 2006. I was mobilized with my National Guard unit on May 30th 2006. Needless to say I didn't get much done on the yard in those three months. Family vacation, job, building a barn and fence took up my free time. We are surrounded by trees but there are none in my yard. Being the inpatient type, I didn't really want to pay for a 5-6 ft tree and have to wait 20 to 30 years for it to get to a substanial size. I started scouting for trees on my property to relocate. After what I went through yesterday, I wish I had started smaller and worked my way up. It really didn't look that big untill I got it on the trailer. It is a 30 ft maple with probably 10" diameter trunk. Here is how I did it.

I started by digging down about 4.5 feet around the tree with my backhoe. It is a Koyker backhoe on a John Deere 4310 32hp tractor. I planned on digging around the tree, pulling the tree to one side, backing the trailer under the edge of the root ball and the pulling the root ball up on the trailer. I dug out around this tree about 2 weeks ago and then tested pulling on it with my truck, a Chevy 2500 diesel. It didn't budge. I then came up with a plan to use a cable to cut the dirt below the root ball. Loop the cable around and pull through. That didn't do squat. So I went back to just pulling. I pulled 4 or 5 times on that tree using a 10,000lb rated lifting strap and it didn't budge. On the 6th try the dirt broke free.

 

[Tractors4u]

After I had broke the root ball loose from the ground I leaned it back a bit away from the trailer and backed the trailer up to the ball and got the lip of the trailer just under the edge of the root ball.

My plan was to then use the tractor to pull the tree up on the trailer with the tractor. Yeah right, that was wishful thinking. I wish I still had my dozer. The tractor would budge it. I realized it was going to take about 3000 more pounds and 330 more HP. I unhooked the truck from the trailer and called a friend to bring his truck over to hook to the trailer.

 

[Tractors4u]

Well the extra weight and HP still wasn't enough to get that tree up on the trailer. We ended up leaning the tree over 90 degrees to the trailer and rolling the rootball up on the trailer. Just by accident, the straps ended up in a position where we could pull on the strap and it would roll the rootball on to the back of the trailer. Well we had to do a little restrapping. After we got the root ball on the trailer I used my tractors FEL to lift up on the trunk while my friend pulled the trailer out. There was a stump that the tree would have drug across and since we had yet to break a limb I didn't want to start now. That worked and we then used my truck to pull the tree all the way on to the trailer. Well, as much of it as would fit.

Once we go the tree on the trailer it was very tongue heavy. So heavy that the fender was 1/4 inch over the tires of the 4WD F150 pulling the trailer. We ended up hooking the trailer to my truck.

 

[Tractors4u]

I thought that this would be the easy part. I had pre-dug the hole before I got the tree there, but after actually using a measuring tape, I realized that the hole was a bit too small and shallow. I quickly dug it out and prepared to put it in the hole.

I pulled the trailer up so that the root ball on the trailer was lined up with the hole. I carefully put a around the trunk and below a couple or large, strong limbs. I attached the other end of the strap to my tractor and then set the break, put the outriggers down and put the FEL bucket down. I got back in the truck and pulled. The tree came off and no limbs broken. Me or the tree.

A gentle tug from the side and the root ball was in the hole.

 

[Tractors4u]

This is the part that got a little frustrating. I would pull and the tree would get about half way up and then fall over to the side. By this time my buddy had to go and I was working alone. I considered cutting it up for firewood until my dad came along. I had him get on the tractor and I started pulling with the truck and when it started going over he pull from the side with the tractor. I took us two tries to get the pulling angle just right. By this time it was dark and the rest of the work would have to wait until this afternoon. I cut a couple of T posts in half and used some ratchet straps to stabilize the tree. I am a little concerned about the strength of the straps so I may change them out. For now it seems solid. I backfilled with some very rich dirt from an area that was used to feed cows. A couple of perferated PVC pipes were put in to ensure that water got deep down to the roots.

The bad news is that I did lose one good sized limb, but it was an off shoot of another limb, so it didn't leave a hole.

The other part is that this tree was against another tree so it is somewhat flat on one side. Fortunately that side is facing the house so it looks nice from the front.

 

[johnk]

A lot of inginuity goes a long way. Water the heck out of it and hopefully it will continue growing. Keep us posted..

 

[Tororider]

I agree with Johnk, I would water the heck out of that thing, set up a drip irrigation or something to keep the water getting deep on a consistent basis. I would also figure out some good fertilizer.

I don't mean to be a spoil sport, because I really hope it survives, but I know even with a big tree spade, trees that size are hard to keep alive.

Best of luck, it looks great, and your work was awesome.

 

[Tractors4u]

As I filled the hole in, I would dump the dirt in and completely saturate it with water. I did that with each load. Also the PVC pipes have holes drilled in the side and they go down to the bottom of the root ball. This first year will be critical. I want that big tree to make it for obvious reasons, but I also want it to live so that I don't have to deal with getting rid of it either!

 

[mjncad]

Out of curiosity, what would a tree company charge to do the work with a tree spade?

I give you credit for sticking with it and making the transplant happen; I doubt I would have been as persistent and as patient.

 

[AlanB]

Great job, sounds like a bit of perseverance paid off. I like the PVC pipe idea, and you are on the right track getting the water down to the base.

Sounds like you also did all you could do to eliminate air pockets so that is great and really helps the tree's survival

They also offer some root stimulators that you may want to consider, I think they are mostly intended for when the root ball is exposed, but with those pipes in, I wonder if you could inject them. I believe they are a mild acid to help root activity.

There are two camps on the tying and staking thing, many feel that staking and keeping it stable are very important, while some of the tree folks believe that allowing it to have some sway and room to move actually makes for a stronger tree. We usually try to not stake them, and then check them regularly (in your own yard I imagine that would be pretty easy ) Then we go back and stake if needed.

I hope it works well for you, that was an impressive root ball to handle manually, I liked the firewood comment, I think I would be thinking the same thing at some point in that operation, Then again, I may have just "blown in place"