How to Move a Tree
or Large Shrub
However careful you
may be in planning where to plant trees and shrubs, you may find
yourself in a situation when you want to move them. The younger
the plants, the greater your chances of success in getting them
to re-establish themselves. Moving trees and shrubs should be done
in late-autumn or early-winter, the dormant period. As a rough guide,
measure the girth of the tree you want to move with one hand. If
your fingers don't meet around it, this shows that it may prove
to be too mature for a successful move. Treat older, established
shrubs in the same way as described for moving a tree (below).
You'll probably need
help from another person for this job! With a big tree (for instance
one that you find when you move to a new garden) try to do some
long-term preparation. If you can, a year ahead, draw a circle with
a spade around the tree below its canopy line (the extent of its
branches). This will show how far the roots extend. Dig a trench
along your line about 30 cm wide and 60 cm deep. Go around the rootball
with a spade undercutting the roots and chopping the ones that you
can reach. Then replace the soil mixed with organic material into
the trench.
What You Need:
A prepared new site for the tree or shrub; spade; fork; garden twine;
a large piece of sacking, old tarpaulin or sheet of strong plastic;
rope; secateurs; organic material; several planks of wood; a hose
or watering can; mulch; another person. Optional: stout stakes for
levering; wheelbarrow or sack truck; plastic drainpipes to use as
rollers.
Step 1
Tie up low branches to the main trunk to protect them and get them
out of your way. Dig a new trench just outside the previous one.
Carefully fork away the soil around the rootball until it is of
a size and weight that you can manage. Avoid damaging the small
roots which have developed. Use a spade to cut through any roots
beneath the plant and separate the rootball from the soil around
it.
Step 2
Get your helper to tilt the tree or shrub to one side. Roll the
sacking or plastic sheet up and slide it beneath the raised side
of the root ball. Tilt the plant the other way and pull the sacking
through underneath it. You should now have the root ball resting
on the sheet, fairly centrally.
Step 3
Gather the corners of the sacking and pull them together around
the base of the plant. Tie it securely with rope to keep the rootball
securely wrapped and intact whilst you move the plant.
Step 4
Tilt the tree again and slide the planks underneath it to make a
ramp. You may need to lever the tree onto the ramp, or pull it on
using the rope. Ease it up the ramp out of the hole. Move the tree
carefully to its new position. See the Workshop: How to Plant a
Tree.
Step 5
Lower the tree into the prepared hole. unwrap the rootball. Replant
your tree to the same level it was before - filling the planting
hole to the soil mark around the stem.
Step 6
Hammer two short stakes into the ground near the edge of the rootball
of the transplanted tree, angled like tent pegs. Loop two lengths
of rope around the tree and secure to the angled stakes like guy-ropes.
Water the tree well. Scatter organic fertiliser around it if you
wish and scratch into the surface of the soil. Apply a layer of
mulch to the soil around the tree. Make this a minimum of 7 cm to
suppress weeds and help retain moisture around its roots. Check
regularly to make sure that the soil does not dry out during the
first season after moving the tree.
Source: Greenfingers
