sharpen shovel ...

dig new hole ...

dig around the plant about 6 inches out from trunk ...

carry to new hole ...

insert .. firm it in there ... water .. walk away ... 100% success ..

in fact.. if it is the plant fa mentions.. use google images to verify ... you can do this in august.. when its 100 degrees.. and not water it.. and most of them will live...

IMHO.. its an invasive weed tree.. as evidenced by all the weeds growing around your property .. and you can do a lot better in tree selection for just a few bucks ... think twice about moving a problem plant.. just because it is free ...

that said.. i think about it all the time.. and move them around my yard ... lol ..

just do it.. and water it once or twice during the heat of summer ...

ken

Ken,
why 6 inches when you do not know how tall that little tree is wilsocn will select? 6 inches seems to be OK for a 3 ft tree, but it requires more for a 5 ft tree. wilsocn should transplant a tree as big as he can carry the rootball of. A 6 ft tree might require a 1ft-from-trunk rootball.
All roots should be preserved as much as possible.
I think you had a posting here about how to transplant a conifer.
Bernd

hey bern ...

wait for it.. YOU ARE CORRECT ... lol ...

i move them at one or two feet ... and a one foot rootball ... 6 inches on each side of the trunk.. is all you need ...

i would never try to move a 6 footer.. and probably why i NEVER fail with this plant ...

though i still hope he avoids this invasive weed tree ..

mine are temporary ... providing a nice screen.. while other things grow to size ... and i have no compunction to removal when the better stuff can do the job ...

BTW.. they grow just fine in full shade ... what might even be called deep shade .. they are all over my hosta beds ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

^^^LMAO at the link! :D

I routinely transplant about a 5-10 Eastern Red Cedar a year. Usually in the 2-10" height range. Put them in 5 gallon containers in semi-shade for 6 weeks. Then ease the container into full sun with pot protected from sun. Once the cedar has grown about 6" the roots are nearing the edge of the pot and it is ready to transplant - about 90 days down here is typical time-frame. Take it and transplant into the ground. Like Ken mentioned, select small trees and dig up as much root as you can.

I have a Central Texas Ash juniper youngster I'd like to transplant as well. About 2-3 ft tall now. Anybody hip to this one...it is early Feb, so dispite the warm weather, I'm hoping now is a good time and I'll have success. Anybody familiar with this one from the granite gravel Hill Country?

I don't think I could add to what's already been said in this thread about planting a tree. Here's a link to some info about planting trees.

Go for it. Keep the roots moist as you can till they are covered up with soil again.

I must be gettin dotty! I forgot I asked this question...so I'll just add to what's been said. I transplanted my little juniper about 3 weeks ago. I intend to follow instructions from scotjutez8...and go another 3 weeks to see if it will transplant into a hole. It is showing a slight amount of tip browning, but it was dug up out of it's happy place. I put superthrive the best product on earth for roots, and will hopefully remember to update with my results. AND I disagree with whoever called it an invasiv weed. There is not more verdent green, and it will block a neighbor better than a bulldozer when positioned rightly. I am tearlful when people clear cut cedar and leave the moncultures, even of oak..which I am of the belief, sets them up for the dreaded oak wilt. And the birds have a place to hide out too.

"superthrive the best product on earth for roots,"

Only if you believe the hype and the anecdotal (and completely unsupported) evidence that plants just take off after application :-)) It is virtually just water......with a little bit of plant growth hormone thrown in.

Au contrair, mon ami! I am a landscaper w/ many years experience who grew roots back on a gopher sharpend pencil point ended yellow ball lead tree one year...fully in bloom, leafed out and over 10 ft tall. I stuck it in a bucket, fully expecting it's demise..and it was ONLY because of superthrive that it not only lived, but never dropped it's foliage, and put all it's roots back in such short order as to be miraculous. I repeated a similar experience transplanting a full grown mountain laurel client wanted moved and I planted in my landscape in LATE SPRING..to expect that to succeed is also an improbability of the utmost extreme. I even called the old dude that invented superthrive. BTW..still answering the phone over 90. He told me, "sorry little lady, anything BUT a Texas mountain laurel you got a shot"..he feared I'd met my match. But to this day and this year it bloomed so fragrantly, it was just a testimony to superthrive...but I did add something else with that one..no fool am I. I got my helper and her 7 yr old daughter to pray as we held hands around it. So that one had a bit of curve on it. Of course, you only have my word for it; but why would I lie...I'm not selling you anything.

But to your point, I did say after the golden ball lead tree incident that Superthrive would grow hair on a billiard ball, but I'd say that would be an exaggeration. It won't do that, pretty sure:)

You can tout it all you want but until you can show me any kind of scientific study outlining its ingredients, attributes and trialling it against control group plants and proving its positive impact, I contend that it is just over-advertised snake oil, aka "Super Jive".

btw, I too am a professional landscaper of many years with a hort degree.........not that it makes a hill of beans difference with this stuff.

btw, the biggest proponents of this stuff seem to be pot growers........and we all know what they've been smoking :-))

Just telling you my experience...believe what you want...maybe it's me...and maybe it's YOU....btw...no ganja in my world...wonder who your references really are?? Have you even tried it?????

I've transplanted a couple wild Juniperus virginiana. No problems, I dont even remember taking care of them afterwords. Seem pretty hardy/easy to grow.

Juniperus ashei is our cultivar...Texas can be a pretty harsh mistress, but I'll report back the results.

jacey, you cite experience with two plants and call it gospel?! ;-)

They are PROBABLY Eastern Red Cedar. If no one planted them and the area isn't swampy, they are probably Eastern Red Cedar. If some have little blue/gray "berries" they are Eastern Red Cedar. I respect them, but they can get a little ratty looking in shade.

I'd lay off the Superthrive. These are trees that thrive in bad soil, and it would probably be easy to burn the roots. Make sure it isn't planted too deep. Tip browning may be fine, but if the whole branch is brown it is dead. This isn't the sort of tree tht can come back if it turns brow. One advantage of transplanting trees that self-sow freely in your yard is you can transplant a bunch, and hope one or two survive. Another advantage is you can grab much more in the way of roots then you could if you had to store and ship them.

Mike and edlincoln...with all due respect. I know what an easter red cedar is, totally different thing, and I only mentioned the two as they were pertinent to the extreme of this conversation. Lighten up guys..try it, don't try it...don't fight about it. Not worth my time to respond..but I do it because I have years of experience in this area, have had great results when using this product, and noticed the difference when I didn't. Are you aware that tip damage will happen when anything has an adverse reaction to being dug up and repotted out of their happy place? I have all kinds of new green on that plant. Not worried about it anymore...but haven't transplanted it, so still a waiting game.

Not a problem.

Mike

we transplanted 5 ft Cedar trees two weeks ago. How long will it take them to be fully rooted into the ground? We give them lots of water daily. Thanks.

2 to 3 years to become fully established .. and free range re: who is responsible for watering ...

you really should start your own post.. and we could help you more specifically ... rather than extending a 9 year old post ...

ken

HU-985...how did your transplanted cedars do? And where are you located?