GardenBanter.co.uk - transplanting rhododendrons

On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 14:49:56 +0100, "Karel5"
wrote:

I have to transplant 2 rather big rhododendrons before march next year.
Maybe not the best season for doing this, but I have no choice.Does anyone
have ezperience with this?

Rhodies have shallow, fibrous root-balls. Dig a trench around the
plant about 8-12" deep, then cut under the root-ball with a spade,
going all the way round until you've freed the plant. Work a strong
sack under it (hessian or woven polypropylene, for preference) and
gather the ends/edges together and tie them up around the neck of the
plant, to keep the roots supported and together when you lift it. If
they're big plants, the root-ball will be quite large and you'll need
help lifting it and getting it to it's new site.

Dig a broad, shallow hole for it, roughly the size of the root-ball.
but a bit deeper. Dig in a lot of peat or acid compost; this will
reduce the depth of the hole to something close to what it should be.
Manoeuvre the rhody into the hole, and check that the top of the
root-ball is no deeper in the soil than it was in it's previous site.
Remove the sacking, and fill around with a peaty soil mix. Water well,
and mulch with more peat. Keep an eye on it next year, and water well
in dry weather.

If they're very big, you may need to prune them really hard to make
them manageable. Many rhodies, especially the older 'hardy hybrids',
will shoot readily from stumps, but some of the more modern varieties
are reluctant to shoot and may even die after such drastic treatment.

--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net