Transplanted Tree

[Tractors4u]

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

I have no idea what they would charge. My brother mentioned the same thing. My reply to him was, "where is the sport in that? That is like hunting on a baited field".

I am kind of a do it yourselfer. It was fun and if I had not being moving that tree I would have been watching TV. One day my kids will look back and say do you remember when dad moved that big tree? Then they will say, "boy was he stupid"

 

[Tractors4u]

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.

That is interesting Alan, I thought staking was mandatory for a tree this big. I will do some research on it and see what I can find. My gut feeling is I need to keep this thing staked at least until we get through next spring. When it leafs out again and we go into windy March I don't want to take any chances.

 

[tony123]

Great project and enjoyed the photos........however, I give that tree about a 25% chance of living. Sorry to sound negative about it, as I know you have high hopes and put in a great deal of work.

A tree spade (in our area) would have been about $400 to move it. Even then, you would have only had a 50-60% chance for success.

 

[BTDT]

I'd take some of the money you saved by doing it yourself and go buy you some more trees. Then this one will have some company. So what if it doesn't live, yank it out and put another in it's place. I wouldn't write it off so soon though, that may turn out to be the tree from hades, in a few years it'll be dropping leaves and limbs all over the place , but then that's just more seat time.

I think Don (txdon) transplanted one over at his place, don't think it was as big as yours, and haven't heard if it made it through the summer or not. Maybe he'll chime in.

 

[Superduper]

Wow, that was one heck of a transplant job. It's a beautiful tree and I could see why you'd want to transplant it so I too hope the tree makes it. Just out of curiosity, why not wait until the tree dropped it's leaves? From everything that I've heard, that would've been the best time to transplant and the tree would have been a whole lot lighter as well, right?

 

[PA hayseed]

Wow, that was one heck of a transplant job. It's a beautiful tree and I could see why you'd want to transplant it so I too hope the tree makes it. Just out of curiosity, why not wait until the tree dropped it's leaves? From everything that I've heard, that would've been the best time to transplant and the tree would have been a whole lot lighter as well, right?

Yeah, I'm a little curious about that too. I was always told to wait til almost all the leaves are off prior to transplanting. I had a maple tree moved not too long ago, when they were running sewer lines down the highway. I hardly got any leaves this year, but some of the material I read said it can take two years or longer to regrow. Good luck.

 

[Tractors4u]

I spoke with an arborist and he had advised this time of year. I sent hm the picture the other day. He didn't realize how big of a tree I was moving. He was a little surprised. I have another smaller, much smaller maple to check on this weekend and two small oaks, 6 and 10 feet.

I also plan on going to the nursery this weekend and getting some trees. Like I said in my first post, I wanted a big tree in the yard, one that looks like it has been there a while. If I had a bigger tractor and bigger trailer I would look for even bigger. I plan on working to keep this tree living. Hopefully this time next year I will give you guys a good report on Maple #1.

 

[JayDavis]

you would be surprised at what a tree can take....sometimes. When we were clearing land for our house my father thought we needed a tree in a certain spot. He dug around a little maple with the back hoe and tied a chain around it, and drug if all the way to where he wanted it. By the time it got there there was no dirt left whatsoever on the root ball and the hole was too small so he just knocked it in and pressed it to fit with the hoe's bucket, covered the roots (crammed into a much smaller hole then needed) and called it done.

He never watered it or anything. It lost its leaves and didn't grow any the next year so I figured it was dead, but the second year it had a few leaves and the year after that it had a few more. It has been 5 years now and it is still a little scruffy but is much larger than when it was growing in it original spot.

Talk about the thing that just wouldn't die. I hope yours has the same tenacity.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Brent, good luck with your tree. The conventional wisdom says that it has a slim chance, but then those guys at the convention all wear those funny hats.

I transplanted a (tiny by comparision) red bud a couple years ago, and it is doing wonderfully. I also just planted 5 large trees and a half dozen large shrubs from a nursery that I respect a bunch -- they are very knowledgeable tree people. According to them, you should NOT fertilize until spring. Water every 4 to 7 days -- a pencil sized flow of water for an hour and a half. That's for a 20 foot tall nursery tree, so you might want to go a couple hours. I used ABS perforated drain pipe to do the same thing you did -- get that water to the bottom of the root ball. Water weekly until the tree is completely dormant (leaves all gone, and then a few weeks after that), then start again next spring at the first sign of budding. Fertilize in the spring, and keep pouring the water to it on the weekly schedule.

The "$400" someone tossed out for a spade job is low for that sized tree. Most spade guys won't even take on the job of moving a tree that is in the wild -- they want to spade into that nice soft, often-worked, nursery soil. If it lives, you've saved yourself a couple thousand dollars, compared to buying a nursery tree and having it planted.

 

[woodlandfarms]

My wife has a green thumb and one thing she throws into the mix on all transplants is Vitamin B-1.. I guess it helps roots take off....