Hi guys I ran across this web site and I get a news letter from them
about gardening and they give you a free ebook when you sign up for
the news letter.
The book is about plant propagation .
Seems like a good book so far although I'm not finished with it yet.
and the news letters thus far seem helpful and informative .
so i included a link and an article he wrote for transplanting
Michelle
http://www.freeplants.com/starting-a-plant-nursery.htm
"Transplanting Tips" by Michael J. McGroarty
Early spring is a great time for transplanting trees and shrubs,
but you must do so before they wake up. Transplanting a plant is a
very traumatic experience for the plant if it is awake. It's like
doing surgery on a person while they are awake. Dormancy starts in the
fall as soon as you experience a good hard freeze, and the plants
remain dormant until the weather warms up in the spring. This is when
you should transplant, while the plants are dormant. You can
transplant in the spring up until the plants leaf out. When the buds
are green and swollen you are usually safe to still transplant, but
once the leaf develops, you should wait until fall.
When transplanting you can dig the shrubs out bare root, just
make sure they are out of the ground for as short a time as possible,
and keep the roots damp while out of the ground. Make sure there are
no air pockets around the roots when you replant them. When possible,
it is always better to dig a ball of earth with the plants when you
transplant them. The rule of thumb is 12” of root ball for every 1” of
stem caliper. If the diameter of the stem of a tree is 2”, then you
should dig a root ball 24” in diameter. Don't be afraid of cutting a
few roots when you transplant. Just try not to cut them any shorter
than the above guidelines allow. Cutting the roots will actually help
to reinvigorate the plant. It's a process simply known as root
pruning. When the roots are severed, the plant then develops lateral
roots to make up for what is lost. These lateral roots are more
fibrous in nature, and have more ability to pick up water and
nutrients. Some nurseries drive tractors over the plants in the field
with a device that under cuts the roots of the plant just to force the
plant to develop more fibrous roots. This make transplanting the plant
the following year much more successful, and makes for a stronger and
healthier plant. The old timers root pruned by hand by forcing a spade
in the ground around their plants. If you have a plant in your
landscape that is doing poorly, a little root pruning while the plant
is dormant could bring it around. It's worth the effort. That's it for
now.