Tree moving

Paddy · Feb 14, 2005

I have several, 6-10, oaks I would like to move. They are fairly small at 6" dia. Local mover wants $150+ each to move.

I did a little checking on the internet, man can large trees be moved!! I saw where a golf club was rerouting the cource. They moved a 24" dia tree. Not far but...

What I saw in all examples was the root ball was more of a shallow disk. Those 6" oaks mentioned above would likely be 5' dia and 18-20" deep. In fact last year I had a 10" dia blow over. Next day I cabled her and put her back up. Yes there's ropes securing it in place but it stayed green all season.

I thought I might dig a 18" trench around the "subject" with my BH. Place a net made of nylon webing around the "disk" and tighten. Knock it over (like a strom would) and drag it to it's new home.

These trees will have to go no mater what, building the lake house.

Has any one moved trees of this size?

Moving to a 3 ac lot with smal trees is diffacult coming from 20 ac of thick forest. Don't get me wrong, the lake with nesting eagles is nice too.

Patrick

johan3400 · Feb 14, 2005

Paddy,
I have moved trees in a construction project. Oaks must be moved while they are dormant. The process you describe leaves a bit to be desired. You really need to have a better root ball. most succussful moves for oak trees this size would use a 92 inch spade. you need a large root ball to assure success. I would see if you could negotiate the price down a bit. How far do they have to transport the trees? Are they guarrantying the project? What kind of Oak trees are they, Red? Burr? Pinn? Each one moves differently. Good luck! This is a big project. Oaks are tempermental but I am sure they can be moved.

Paddy · Feb 15, 2005

I would need to move them 100'. Why does it seem all the nice trees are where the house and septic go?

They are Red oak best I can tell.

PBinWA · Feb 15, 2005

I feel your pain. When I moved to my house there were 50 large Douglas firs in exactly the wrong place. I wanted them on the east side not right in front of my view. They probably were cute little Christmas trees ten years ago.

You may want to call some Tree Services in your area and see if anyone has a large Tree Spade to make the move much easier.

Since you have a backhoe you should be able to do a pretty good job on your own. Just remember to use lots of bone meal when you replant the trees and keep the ground well watered over the summer.

bellweather · Feb 15, 2005

From what I know, moving oak trees is difficult. A few years back I bought a young white oak from a nursery (expensive), and they explained that they have to start their oak trees from seed (acorn) right in the pot because digging them up often results in a dead tree. Don't know if this is absolutely true, but I'm sure you can research this on the web or check with an arborist to find out more.

johan3400 · Feb 15, 2005

Paddy,
I would like to encourage you a bit more after my last post. I checked with a professional tree mover today. He said the Red Oaks would be the best to move, so that is a good thing. His big worry is the main tap root under any oak. He also stated that a 44 inch spade would do for that size Oak. I am moving about 250 Red Oak trees this spring. They are only 2 inch caliper trees and my man says I will have about 50% success. It is a shame to have all the good trees right where you want to place your home and septic. If you do it your way get as long a tap root as you can and hit them early. We are hoping to move ours before March 15. We are using a 30 inch spade on my small trees. I also think the price is a bit steep for such a short move. Shop around a bit. Ten trees that short a distance would move rapidly. Not even a morning. Good luck and do not get discouraged. Make the best effort you can and it should turn out alright.

Paddy · Feb 15, 2005

Thanks for the good advice. I should see what a "half day" would cost. Have them move what can be done in that time frame.

A good pruning can help balance the root loss. I work around ceramic production. The material to be reused is placed then moved in these 4' cube nylon fabric sacks. They have large straps sewn in to loops. Large tractors can lift these full bags. This is what I thought I might try to duplicate by making a band of sorts. Thinking I could undercut some. In the end, I could spend all day on one tree and still have it die.

Patrick

MikeS_in_GA · Feb 15, 2005

My FIL had a Vemeer 44" spade and I helped him move lots of trees. Anyhow.... from what we learned we would not even think about moving a 6" oak. We tried some 3-4" oaks (about 20-25' tall) and the few that lived looked sick for about 3 years. We dealt with swamp white oak and some bur oak. We would cut tap roots off of 3' tall white oaks with a 44" deep hole. Occasionaly we would go to lift up the tree and the tree would stay put, and we would pull about 1000# of dirt away from the tree - there was a spot in the center of the spade about the size of your fist - if the tap root was right in there if wouldn't always break off.

Maybe with a really big spade (84" or bigger) and some serious pruning you could get away with it, but with my experience, I would not try with a 44" spade.

BTW we charged $60/hour and that was in Eastern Iowa.

Hope I didn't rain on your parade too much.

Mike

MikeS_in_GA · Feb 15, 2005

And since many of you are wondering about my FIL's super nice tree spade.... here it is.

And a quick story.... Driving about 50mph with a plug of dirt in the spade and look up and see a car to our left approaching a T intersection at a high rate of speed (~60mph). We couldn't stop, his skid marks started at the white line at the stop sign - hit us right behind the drivers door. Spade whipped around and hit his passenger door, then went the other way (with us still very much attached) and took out a power pole. Ended up on its side in the ditch, leaking fuel and oil, with a live wire over the cab of the truck and on the spade. Truck was a 2500 chevy. We were banged up, but otherwise ok. Spade had $12,000 worth of damage and the truck was about $8,000. (PS - he was towing the boat)
lucky, lucky, lucky!

Spade was sold after it was repaired.

aondre · Feb 16, 2005

What size tree spade is he using for that price? If he is using a 50" or larger spade that isn't that bad (or at least around here). I have a 36" spade and move 2-3" Red Oaks without too many problems. What kind of soil do you have? If its a loose soil like sand forget about it, if it's heavy clay then your chances improve greatly. Either way I don't think the method you described would work well. Also, keep in mind a 6" Oak with a 50" root ball will easily weigh 4000lbs or more.

If you do decide to have them spaded, make sure they dig the new hole a few inches shallower than the tree hole. You want the root ball to be sticking up 2-4" above the ground after transplant, this is better for the surface roots as the ball will settle. Of course, only move them when they are dormant. I also strongly recommend using a vertimulching product with the transplant, see (http://www.planthealthcare.com/catalog/product/m-tst.html)

If you are not in a hurry you could root-prune the trees this spring and move them in the fall. This would greatly improve the survival rate. The easiest way is to have the spade come in and lower the blades about 3/4 of the way and retract them, this will sheer the majority of the roots forcing new root growth within the diameter of the spade, creating a more dense root structure. You could also do this by digging a 1-2' trench around the tree and refilling, just make sure you have at least a 45" root ball (50+" would be better). Both methods require one season of growth before the actual move.

After transplanting or root-pruning additional watering is critical for survival. Treegator makes a good product (http://www.treegator.com). Or buy some 1gal/hour drip emmitters from an irrigation supplier (www.dripworks.com) and put them in the bottom of a 5 gallon pail.