FYI - the following applies to transplanting you original tree, or getting a
new tree

If you prune the new tree properly, an 8 foot maple will be 14 feet tall in
3-4 years (at least in Minnesota maples and ash have). And keep growing
well.

It works like this -

1) From the tree's standpoint, the top of the tree is just there to balance
the roots. So think of a tree as a bunch of roots trying to make its top
balance out the roots.

2) to get grass to grow, and for security, you don't want any branches below
8 feet.

3) a branch coming out 6 feet up stays at 6 feet up- it does not move up as
the tree grows.

4) roots that do the work are out at the drip line. You have to be sure to
take those roots when you transplant.

So when you buy an 8 foot maple, all those branches you see today will be
gone in a few years, if you do this right. But the roots will remain and
have expanded, balanced by a bigger higher top.

That said - some don'ts-

The biggest mistake in planting a tree is failing to prune the tree when
you plant it. If you don't, they sit for a couple years, trying to get
going.

The second biggest mistake in planting is not mixing soil (to prevent a
barrier in the two soils, between the root ball soil and the soil of the
hole.) Different soils not mixed, especially clays, doom the tree to
smallness for many years.

The third mistake is not recognizing that you are looking at a tree that
is forty-sixty feet across in 15-20 years and thus planting it too close to
the house.

So, (skip 1 if transplanting your tree)

1) You pick the kind you like - some (e.g., Norway) keep their leaves until
the snow knocks them off, and raking is real late; what color
leaves -red/gold, yellow, etc; shape; height; etc. And check it against the
spaces you have

2) you find your spot - use it shade the patio, lawn, whatever? - and not
too close to the house or next to another tree.

3) You dig a hole twice as far across as the root ball and half again as
deep (three foot root ball = 4.5 foot deep hole 6 feet across.
Mix the soil you are removing well with some fertilizer and composted
matter (or peat moss) and "soil amendment" (sand if clay soil, black dirt if
sandy soil, etc.) About 3/4 original soil and UP TO 1/4 added stuff - 3:1
for clay soil or real sandy, less for loam.
That compost will warm the soil at the tree roots and speed up the
chemical reactions that make the roots grow - and the top size follows the
faster root growth.

4) You put back some of the loosened soil into the hole ( that "half again"
amount) so that the top of the ball will be just below ground line - yes,
measure the depth carefully.

5) Use a hose and wet the burlap so the soil you are about to expose is wet.
No need to soak it so it weighs a ton.

5) Put the tree in the hole and center it in the hole and PLUMB THE TRUNK.

6) When the tree is centered and plumb - one person holds the tree trunk
upright while the other GENTLY removes the burlap - no need for speed, just
move with diligence so the roots do not dry. Cut the burlap away and discard
it.
Don't worry about the piece of burlap underneath the ball. (I know they
say leave the burlap on, because rookies do more damage than good when they
remove it - but leaving it promotes barriers in many soils)

7) Shovel in some soil in around the ball, a foot or so deep at the ball,
and mix the returned soil near the ball, by hand, in with the soil of the
ball about half and half. Don't disturb the ball soil too much, but do get a
transition zone of mixed ball soil and amended soil.
Gently "firm" the amended and mixed soil near the root ball - not "pack"
or hard, but just firm like you do when planting potted plants and
seedlings, so air and water can get to the roots.

Check plumb.

Put in more amended soil around the ball, up another foot or so, and mix
that and the ball soil. Gently, about half and half again

You should have a hole with a tree and a shallow-sloped cone of soil going
out from the tree root ball.

Check plumb.,

Finish up the amended-soil-cone-and-mix around the tree, up to its crown
(the small ring on the trunk where the roots meet the trunk).

Check plumb

8) Use the hose and fill the void (made by the hole and the amended soil
sloping from the tree) with water. (If you planted the tree over a gopher
hole, no need to stand there all day putting in water- use your judgment
here !)
Turn off the hose and wait until the water drains into the soil
completely before proceeding.

Check plumb. Both sides.

9) Fill the hole with amended soil, cutting into the edges of the hole with
the shovel here and there as you go, so the amended soil mixes into the
existing soil some. Ok to walk on the soil some every 3-4 inches worth of
new depth or so, even good for it as long as you don't pack it down hard.

Check plumb. Helper may now let go of the tree.

10) Rake the soil so its fairly flat, and soak the soil, getting beyond the
edges of the hole. (but don't soak the left-over soil :-) ). Use your hand
around the trunk, not the rake.

11) After the water has soaked in, put as much of the rest of the soil back
as possible, sloping the soil out from the trunk in a gentle slope. Walk on
the soil to firm it.
After pruning--- Scatter grass seed on amended soil and cover it with a
thin layer of soil and press the soil with the back of the rake--
if a fall planting, then leave it. Most of it will sprout before spring,
using snow as the source of moisture.
if a spring planting, -see grass seed care.

(Put any excess soil in the garden.)

12) Pruning time - keep the branches cut off about 1/4 of the total top .
If taking a big side branch off at the trunk means more will be lost, then
cut the branch back this year to make that 1/4th to 1/3rd max, and take off
the rest off at the trunk next year.
Priorities - If the tree has a twin leader (two shoots side by side going
up as a trunk), cut one off. If there is no twin leader, then if there are
two big side branches, take just the bigger of those off to the trunk this
year.
If it wasn't that big a branch, then prune the bottommost branches from
the trunk so as to have removed about 1/4 (to 1/3 max if you have big side
branches) of the top growth total in this step.
The object here is to leave enough top to make food for growth, yet take
enough top to cause new top growth to shoot out elsewhere to balance the
roots
(If you have two big branches lower than 8 feet, you may have to take more
than 1/4 next year when you take off the second -but you can't leave a big
low branch, or the tree will split in a storm in 20 years.)

Once the tree is put in, it needs food and water for the rest of its life,
but it needs special care the first few years. The fast growth stresses it
in a healthy way, but stresses it nonetheless.
Water it deep if you get a dry spell or if the soil is dry. Don't
overwater, because not only does wet soil promote fungus and deprive the
hair roots of the air that they to work, city water is usually PH 8+ to stop
lead solder leaching, and that PH water interferes with root nutrient
transfer.

Year one - The tree will add a couple feet to the top this year, if a
spring plant. It's just first year, so don't be too eager for it to take off
growing. It might only be a foot.
Wrap it before winter with tree tape. Because you are forcing top
growth, the carrying layers that make fast strong growth are thicker and
fleshier and keep more water and thus more prone to sunsplits from
freeze-thaw --- and sunsplits are depressing because they stop growth cold.

Next year - Late spring early summer, take another big low branch off at
the trunk, and/or more bottommost branches off the trunk, again to remove
not much more than 1/4th of the top growth.
Put in a half-dose of tree spikes outside the drip line in spring.
Again, wrap it with tree tape before winter.

Third year spring, it should be about 12 feet high. Now you just take off
branches up to the 8 foot mark, and again not more than 1/4th of the top
growth.
Put in the other half dose of tree spikes in spring
Tree tape before winter

Fourth year spring- it should be 14 feet or so high - and by now, there
should be only a little growth left below 8 feet to cut from the trunk, and
maybe some branches that want to come back down. Just cut the down-leaders
from those branches.
Cut off any too-close new growth on the trunk, to space out the new trunk
branches.
If the rough bark has not yet completely formed, again with the tree
tape. (Rough bark is not just smooth with some little scabs here and there -
rough bark is like the bark on a mature tree - fissured and tough)

Fifth year spring - it's likely 16-18 feet high, and you just prune in early
summer to remove rubbing branches, odd routes, too-close-together trunk
growth, the ends of side branches that are ahead of the overall shape, etc.
Tree spikes in spring.
If the rough bark has not formed by fall (and not forming by this time
and size is rare because smooth bark means it's still growing like a very
young tree which needs soft bark to stretch around a rapidly expanding
girth)
then again more tree tape just before winter.

fwiw........

"Ether Jones" wrote in message
oups.com...
4) I am guessing this tree is 4-5 years old.

The trunk diameter at breast height is almost 3 and a half inches.

The tree was here when we bought the property 5 years ago. I don't
remember how tall it was then, but I'd guess maybe 8 feet. So I'm
guessing the tree is now about 10 years old?


The labor to dig up and transplant this tree will definately cost
more than twice as much as buying a nursery tree and planting it
yourself.

None of the nurseries I've been to has maples this large. Last year I
saw a couple of very large burlaped trees at a nursery in the next
town; they were priced in the $400 range (I don't remember what
species).

I was hoping I could hire a tree mover for a couple hundred bucks to
dig up my maple and move it 150 feet to its new location. I haven't
started making the calls yet to find out if I'm dreaming.

The local Lowe's was selling 7-foot silver maples with 3/4" trunks in 3
gallon pails for under ten bucks. I could handle that job myself, but
it would be worth the extra money to me to have the (much) larger tree.
Besides, if I don't move the tree, I'm probably going to have to take
the chainsaw to it. It's in a very unfavorable location.