Best time to move trees

[brent]

we are presently building a house on a 4 1/2 acre site that is a little weak in the tree department, we also have a wooded 8 acre site that we changed our mind on building for distance reasons. The 8 acre site is heavy wooded with sugar maple, beech, white oak and silver maples, there are many , many seedlings 3 ft to 10ft of each i want to move to our building site, when is the best time of year, and any tricks i need to know so i dont ruin these trees.

Thanks

Brent

[Gatorboy]

Best time is when they are dormant -- after the leaves have fallen off (Sept/Oct).

Review the American Association of Nurserymen Standards for determining the size of root ball to dig.

[brent]

Thank you Dave,

Great link! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[pappy19]

Actually, if you identify the trees you want to move, in the spring, take a sharpshooter spade and cut the roots all around the tree at about the same distance as the edge of the branches. That way the roots will grow smaller but tighter on the remaining roots. When you come back in late fall, you'll have a nice root ball on the tree and the native dirt will stay on them better when you transplant, and the tree will have a better survival rate.