"David Hill" wrote in message ...

So you are looking at 5 year old trees, I'd dig around the trees at about
2ft out from the trunk, I wouldn't worry about trying to save a root ball,
I suspect the soil will come off unless you have heavy soil.
The thickest roots can be pruned back a little, but try to preserve as much
of the smaller roots.
Have the planting holes ready so that as soon as you lift you can move the
tree into it's new home with as little shock as possible, so that it's not
lying on the surface for any amount of time.


I moved them yesterday and there were a couple of things that surprised me.
Firstly the root ball was only about 18" dia. Expecting more as the spread
is about 5' (on average).

Secondly, the soil was much drier than expected. This may be down to the
fact that the allotment is on a 12:1 slope.

I added half bucket of water to each planting hole. Should I continue adding
water at say, weekly intervals? TIA.