Anyone ever had large trees transplanted in a yard. Large being pine trees 10-12 feet tall. Or deciduous trees with a trunk 4-5” diameter.
If so what’s your experience on survival and what’s a tree like that cost, planted?
I see these large tree spades on the backs of trucks moving some very large trees.

Thanks

yes you can transplant that size of tree using a tree spade at the right time of year

I've done it with backhoe. 24" bucket. A couple of peach trees.

Also moved 36ft of holly bush hedges. And some overgrown gardenia bushes.

All successful.

Don't pine trees have a tap root that makes them hard to transplant past a certain size?

You ought to talk to a tree nursery, they handle those questions all the time.

The place I worked owned the spade and we mostly were planting donated trees so I can't help on the money question. IIRC we used to stick with 2-3" trees with a 44" spade. I'd guess a 60-70% survival rate. A lot depends on the soil and prep and the follow up watering etc. Bigger trees need a bigger spade which I have never run personally.

Years later we hired a big (over 100") spade to move some 6-8" trees. The survival rate was excellent but we definitely babied those trees for a couple of years after moving them.

Depending on the tree I’d charge you for front yard easy access $400-$500 for a 24” box common tree.

Obvious it would be significantly less if I was landscaping your whole front yard.

Your diameter requirements would require a 36”-48” box tree which could be into thousands dollars depending on species and availability.

I've planted some 20'+ spruces and 25' maples. Trees must be dug while dormant and I let the nursery keep them alive thru spring to make sure they put on spring growth. They have to grow or die in spring so let the nursery take that chance. Once proven alive and growing after dug, then take delivery. Stake them with wires to keep them from blowing over in a wind storm. Water them religiously for two years.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Takes me back a long time. One of my uncles home had a pair of large gardenia bushes on either side of the side walk next to his front door. Ahhhhhhhhh the smell of those blossoms.

Plant in late October/November prior to the ground freezing...that has been my secret to transplantation success. And add bone meal to the root base...

I don't know about all varieties of pine trees but cedar trees are like that.

I'm always amazed that nurseries promote planting trees in the spring instead of the fall. Of course it's all about immediate gratification and selling plenty of fertilizer, root hormones, etc. to go with the trees. Years ago I transplanted a lot of small hardwoods like dogwood, redbud, red maple, and ash in the fall getting a rootball only as bit as I could lift into a wheelbarrow. Most of the trees had about thumbsize trunks, but if you transplant properly they will grow fast. The only tree I considered a failure was because I put a red maple in too dry a place. I pulled the maple up and put an ash in the same hole and it thrived.

It's simple. Transplant in the fall soon as the leaves fall. get as big a root ball as you can. Plant the tree and fill spaces with dirt, and water till the tree is standing in mud - this will remove air pockets in the soil and provide a good watering. If it's on a slope build a slight dam around the low side to catch runoff water. This is important-cut about a third of the limbs off of the tree so that the root system is not overtaxed the following spring.

If you have the luxury of time, find the tree you want to transplant and in spring cut the roots as deep as you can with a shovel around the perimeter of the rootball and let it go through the summer adding more feeder roots within the rootball. move it in the fall. Still cut a third of the limbs off.

OP asked about large trees but I thought I'd post this since it was foolproof for me. I only transplanted native wild trees instead of ornamentals.

Good post.

Large trees are big money so you want to make sure they are actually alive. Even a cut christmas tree looks alive for a while! You need to let the nursery hold them long enough to guarantee that they are GROWING.

Yeah I’ve done a bunch of 9-10’ Skip Laurels for a hedge and a dozen or so weeping cedar, spruce, etc in the 10-12’ range. I didn’t use a backhoe and instead dug the holes and manhandled the SOB’s in place myself.

I’ve had 100% success in everything I planted because I water the hell out of them for first year.

The best time to plant a tree is ........30 years ago.

In answer to your pine tree tap root question: Yes, they have long tap roots on young trees; I've never dug up an older tree. I've transplanted 250 ponderosa pine trees on my property. The trees were all seedlings with tap roots in the 18-30 inch length. My survival rate is about 20%. I don't water the trees. They are all in or at the edge of an existing ponderosa forest.

👍😁

Seems like a lot of effort for little success.

I’ve good luck with Live Oaks. I don’t know if they will grow where you live. The big one is 20 yrs old, smaller on is ten yrs old. Probably 2 feet tall when they were planted.

Almost anything can be moved if it's the size of a pencil.

True, but Live Oaks grow fast. For 500.00, you can get one like the small one delivered and planted.

For darn sure Live Oaks grow faster than dead oaks......lol.