Transplanting............

[WoodMann]

Hey guys- one more Q for ya. With removing all the dead trees in the wake of the bark beetle fiasco, there are a bunch of bare spots, not surprisingly. Thing is- a bunch of seedlings are poppng up in what looks to be less than ideal locations. So I'd like to take the little fellow and replant the small tree in the afforemoentioned barespots. Any pointers on ground prep to the target location? Digging up the transplantee? Are there better seasons to do this in than others?
THanks

 

[pulldownclaw]

Hey Mark,

From what I know, it's best to transplant late Winter/early Spring before they come out of dormancy. If they're bigger saplings some say to dig around the base in a circle a year before, cutting some of the roots, but allowing it to stay where it is so there's not too much shock of transplanting. Then you would transplant the next year. That and take as much of the rootball you can with it!

 

[jebatty]

Since you mention bark beetle, I assume pine is the transplant. Fairly small pines, 12-18", I easily transplant with just a shovel. Dig the hole for the transplant, fill the hole with water, wait until the water seeps into ground, move the dirt to the area where you will remove the seedling, dig out the seedling and place in the transplant hole, add and pack dirt as needed around the transplant, water.

Couple of suggestions: dig the transplant hole a little deeper than needed, so after planting the transplant is a little lower than surrounding ground. This makes watering easy. BUT, do not put dirt above the point on the transplant stem which was above ground before; in fact, it's OK to have the dirt just a bit below this spot. Fill the depression and around the transplant hole with mulch to help keep and hold water. Also, make sure transplant roots are straight down to the end and not bent and turned up. You can trim the transplant roots some if they are too long.

Spring before growth starts and fall after summer growth are done are the best times to plant, but I don't pay too much attention to this with small seedlings. They are very hardy, and with water they seem to do fine regardless of when transplanted. Small seedlings don't have much of a root structure, so it seems not much root damage when transplanting, and time of transplanting is pretty flexible. But try your best to keep root ball in place. Don't worry too much if some dirt falls away.

Sometime easier to remove the seedling to be planted if you water it first, especially if ground is dry, to firm up the soil around the roots by the wetting action of watering.

Have fun.

 

[Gooserider]

I also have a minor transplanting problem... There is a walk alongside our garage, with a strip of dirt between it and the building, and there is a BIG rhododendron bush and a couple of smaller bushes of something along the same line but with little leaves and red flowers that have been planted in the space. These bushes have now grown bigger than the space should have in it, and are damaging the garage wall on one side, and crowding out the walk on the other.

I need to transplant these bushes, I don't really care that much about the rhododendron, I would like to save the other two if I can... When is the best time of year, and any particular tips other than what's been mentioned earlier?

Gooserider

 

[fraxinus]

Rhododendrons are among the easiest to transplant. They have a dense, shallow and fibrous root system. Cut in a wide circle outside the outer most branches to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Then undercut and pry up the root mass with a square ended shovel. If it's a big plant it will be heavy, so slide it onto a tarp or piece of heavy duty plastic for moving. Lift on the root mass, not the trunk. You can do this at any time of the year except when the ground is frozen. Once in the new location, watering every few days, even every day in hot, dry conditions, are the keys to success. It's impossible to tell what the smaller plants are from the description, but there are small leaved rhododendrons. Look at the leaves, tops and bottoms. If you see overlapping scales like you'd find on a butterfly's wing, it is almost certainly a small leaved rhododendron. Might also be azalea, all of which are technically rhodendrons, too. No scales on azalea leaves, red is a common color. Transplant in the exact same way.

 

[Gooserider]

Thanks, sounds great... Probably won't be able to get the roots that are under the walk, but that won't worry me much.

Gooserider

 

[ansehnlich1]

1. The most important thing in transplanting is to NOT let the roots dry out. Keep them roots damp, don't dig something out, set it in the grass, let the sun shine on the roots, let the wind blow over 'em for a couple hours, and expect it to live. Get that puppy re-planted a.s.a.p. and keep them roots damp in between.

2. Dig a big enough hole.

3. Build up a basin around the newly planted tree/shrub, build it up with dirt all around, so that bad boy holds water when you water it, sweeeeeeeeet.