michaelbrown wrote:
Hi, I've recently begun digging up the south side of my house in Austin.
The hill used to slope down to the house which caused a neat flooding
effect inside my house every time we got more than 2 inches of rainfall
in a day. I've got most of the hill re-graded. All that's left is an
area of lantana growing right near the house. There are 3 bushes there
which are at least 4 years old (they were there when we bought the
house in 2000). I haven't done anything to them in all our time here
except cut them back a little when mowing. I haven't pruned them with
any pretense of expertise whatsoever. They are about 5 feet tall and
probably 3 or 4 feet wide (each).

My problem is I need to move them in order to complete my re-grading
project. I want to keep them, and I'm pretty sure I know where I want
them to live. But since I've never transplanted anything before, and
since it's dead of summer in Austin right now, I'm wondering if this is
a bad idea. I'm pretty sure that I should wait until fall to move them,
but I don't think I can wait that long to get this project finished.

Can I transplant lantana now without killing it? And if so, any tips?
Currently, the plants get pounding, direct sunlight from about 12-noon
until 3 pm. Should I make sure to move them into an equally well-lit
area, or is it possible that they could go into shock and might do
better in a shadier spot? One suggestion I found at
http://tinyurl.com/65c7z is to take clippings before transplanting
them. My guess is this is to ensure that at least something can be
replanted if the main bush doesn't survive the move. Also, I've read
Leona's suggestion at http://tinyurl.com/596bh about transplanting
lantana: "wet the root balls well, being sure that they are moist all
through, with no dry areas and pour water in the hole you made for them
and let the water setle, and loosed the root ball and mix some of the
soil fro the root ball with the soil in the hole. and firm the soil
around them then a light watering to ease out air holes" - is that good
advice for a summer transplanting, too?

Thanks very much for your help.

--Michael


I've moved them mid-summer, to take them with me. Cut them back, leaving
a few inchs growth all around, moisten well, dig up root ball about same
size as leftover top, as little distubance as possible, move them, keep
them shaded and moist the rest of the summer, stop papering once fall
rains start. They should recover. Infact, you could probably pull them
out bare-rooted from dry soil, toss em aside a few days, replant them,
and they'd recover. They're tough, and considered an invasive pest in
some parts of the world. I love 'em. My daddy grew them in South Texas
during the time it never rained (the long drought of the late 50s), when
nothing would grow.

Rick