Transplanting a tree

plonked...


i like that....

plonked plonked plonked.

oh, sorry, i'll move along now.


plonked.

Soz, the redbud (I just typed redbut) would be happy under the elm - shade wise. It's naturally an understory tree. My guess is that the elm roots are sucking all the water out of the ground which is why the dogwood died. Redbuds like moist soil. They also don't liked to be transplanted. But, if you're unhappy with the location of the redbud anyway, give it a shot! (that location makes some sense as a screen from your neighbors).

Dogwood trees are very sensitive and tend to not do well in new environments, even when the soil and conditions may be suitable for good health. When transplanting make sure you bring as much of the surrounding dirt as you can.

Soz, you could also buy a new redbud. They should do well in that spot. Be sure to give the roots plenty of water. Also consider a serviceberry (amenchalier). There are several varieties which have different shapes and sizes. Flowers are pink or white.

Serviceberry

I like that serviceberry!

I probably should buy something new. I liked the solving-two-problems at once aspect, though.

I think the idea was a screen but the actual placement just doesn't really work -- too far down the slope, for one thing. (Makes more sense to have it closer to the fence, but that's also closer to the power lines). I'm always cursing the redbud in the summer as I twist myself into a pretzel trying to weed around it without putting an eye out, it's in the way for sledding in the winter, and it's just kind of arbitrary. Plus I've been planning to make a stepping-stone path to a little seating area between the two big cottonwoods (and also for better access for weeding), the obvious place for the path is straight through the redbud.

Question: this tree's little, but I have an old redbud elsewhere that's enormous and I saw you suggested the redbud to Chai as a tree that would grow to a pretty good size. I don't want anything TOO big -- probably, what, 15-20 feet tops. Is it possible to keep the redbud on the small side, or will it outgrow the spot I have in mind for it in the front?

redbuds are considered medium, maybe even small, trees. They range between 25-35 feet. They may have put it far from the fence because they knew it'd filled out eventually. If you let it grow, you can snip off the lower branches and not have to worry about loosing an eye.

As for the spot in your front yard, trees adapt a bit to their conditions. First of all, it'd be a decade or decades before it was full size. Second of all, it'll be in slightly adverse conditions due to less light and dryer soil conditions than would be optimal. So, it would likely not be full sized.

Note that when trees are grown in shady spots, they tend to be a bit rangier - sparser branches, leaves and flowers. So, when you see a picture of an understory tree in full sun, it'll look denser than what you'll end up with.

We have a number of serviceberry trees and we think of them as fruit trees as opposed to decorative. They have a habit of growing a longish trunk and upright branches, so theres always an open spot at the lower end (unless you allow the suckers to grow and then it just looks skanky. The berries of the serviceberry are the best tasting berry we have, and its always a fight to get them befiore the birds.

Transplanting a tree that doesnt like transplanting is best done through a year. In the spring, begin to circle cut the root area with a spade to make a big rootball. This loosens up the root mass and keeps it contained through the year. In the fall cut into the ground at the same rootball shape and leave it for the winter. We did this and put mulch in the area where th e shovel cut a rootball. The next spring dig it up, it should be more yielding and you can transplant it to a well prepared mulch supplied hole. We did this with about a 10 foot redbud and got it to take.
Then its a three year process in which you must remeber the old addage about transplanting atree
1the first year it sleeps
2the next year it creeps
3the third year it leaps..

Thats whgy, often transplanting smaller trees will actually have a small caliper tree "catch up and pass" a larger tree. We did this with a whole bunch of sugar maples and poplars and cherries that we put into a 10 acre plot that we have been having a university ecology class monitor as it's involved in a succession.

plonk 1. n. : A social beverage of the 1960s
2. v.i. : to be under the influence of plonk; By the time we got to Woodstock, half the crowd was plonked, and the other half was getting there.

Plonk - to place randomly with little forethought as to positioning.

Plonk - poor quality cheap wine esp in the style of port

I'm new at dealing with snow and this and that in the east, also here in abq.

For transplanting, I'd check experts re best time of year, and have a reputable landscape contractor do it if it was a primo tree. Back when I was an early lab tech I saw a rather large oak planted in the circle driveway near my lab. Humongous job, I would guess by the expertise of Valley Crest Nursery (from my familiarity with them years later). You might check their website to see tree planting and transplanting advice.
(Me, I'd not plant live oaks near driveways now, these years later. Tough on them. Have to remember to post that on Chai's thread.)

This is not to say that Farmer is not more correct; he isn't motivated, I don't guess on this, by business issues, and may be more correct than any get-it-done business, re timing and protecting the roots.


At about six feet, whatever caliper or container size, moving that baby may be quite doable (I don't know, never transplanted a Cercis - redbud), but I wonder why. I am, er, not impressed with its form. My opinion is give it up, and take care of any treekilling qualms by planting younger better ones in a place of choice.
They do tend to catch up.

Yeah, I probably should start fresh in the front. I have this reflexive aversion to cutting down a perfectly healthy (if kind of scraggly and badly placed) tree, so I liked that aspect (move it but save it). I guess I can still move it someplace else, just not the place I had in mind -- a place where, if it dies, oh well, but if it lives, great.

Farmerman's advice sounds good but is more involved than what I want to attempt.

I guess I could still just half-assed-ly transplant it to the place I want and if it takes, it takes, but there's something about the idea of having ANOTHER dead tree there, and removing it, and replacing it, that is distinctly unappealing.

Transplanting should be done in mid-autumn or very early spring.

How early?

(As in, now-ish?)

I imagine that your ground is still frozen, yes? Wait until it thaws.

It's pretty muddy actually. Not sure how far down it goes, haven't tested.

But you're saying when it thaws, that's the time to do it?

(I still haven't made any decisions, just curious.)

Yes. Fall is best, early spring is second best. Thius give the tree an easy entry and a chance to establish itself before the heat of summer. Water it well. all through the summer. By well I mean 2xweek for an hour at a medium trickle. You'll need to build up a well around the outside rim of the hole/root mass to hold the water. After a couple weeks, do it 1 time every week or two through mid summer (depending onhow hot and dry it is). Water well a few times through the fall and then water it very well just before freezing weather sets in.

The deep watering is key. Most people new to gardening tend to water too lightly.

So the jackhammer is out?

Not unless impending warmer weather is guaranteed.

Can I use that for a sig line, k?