View Single Post
  #4   Report Post  
Old 07-01-2007, 01:09 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
[email protected] robertharvey@my-deja.com is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 139
Default Transplant a christmas tree

ziz wrote:
I have a christmas tree (don't know what sort but the basic one) in my back
garden which has grown to about 12 feet. I would like to transplant it to
another location in my garden.
Can anyone advise me on how to do it? ie best time of year, best method etc.


I'd have thought there was a 30% chance it would not survive moving no
matter how you do it.

The best method would be to take it complete with a large rootball of
soil. I'd do it now or in February. Get some forestry netting and
lift the branches up, then bind them in the netting and some rope to
prevent damage. You will need to dig down around the tree, try to
make the root ball larger than the "spread" of the tree, it is a good
first-order aproximation that the main root spread is similar to the
branches. Dig down a little further than the radius of the root ball,
then hollow out underneath.

You will have to remove a lot of soil to get access to hollow out below
the root ball, and must take precautions to avoid the hole caving in
while you are down there. You will shift a significant weight like
this, and roughly half as much in the destination location, which will
also need compost adding and some bonemeal to encourage re-rooting. A
lot of bonemeal.

The tree and root ball will weight an awful lot and you will need
mechanical assistance to lift and move it. A 12 foot tree is quite
large.

Or you could pay someone to do it. Or plant a new one.