g'day dragon,

might be better to id the fern first so yo know what you are dealing
with. you don't say where you are from this may indicate what type of
tree fern could be in your garden.

if it is a dicksonia it will generally grow all its new fronds at the
one time, and they generally have thicker trunk with a softer
appearance.

a cooperii grows its fronds one at a time in an ever ascending order,
like a spiral and they generally have a thinner trunk and a rougher
appearance.

dicksonia are fairly easy to transplant (they are the tree fern logs
you can see for sale in nurseries or wherever), just cut it off at
ground level transplant to a new spot planting the new bottom about 8
or so "s into the ground, cut off all mature and maturing fronds just
leave the fiddle heads and the crown alone, wrap the trunk in foam
rubber or hessian potatoe sacks give this all a good soaking and set a
hose in the crown to drip, wet the trunk a couple of times a day until
the fern shows signs of life,

a cooperii generally you cut the top off if it is a plant with a trunk
taller than say around a meter, cut the top off about 12 to18"s below
the bottom of the crown, again remove all fronds mature or developing
only leave those that are still tucked into the crown, plant it in the
new spot soak the runk wrap with hessian set up a dripper and again
keep the trunk well watered while the plant develops. the remains of
the old trunk can be used to grow broms, orchids or elk's etc.,. on,
so could possibly stay put as part of you garden display.

i have transplanted cooperii's with trunks about a meter or less by
digging the plant out with a good amount of root ball but they still
need the same treatment as above to settle in, the one you have sounds
much taller than that and if you did try to transplant with a root
ball you would have to stake it and tie it to hold it, just it may not
take and you could lose it.

hope this helps a bit

len

snipped
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