This is the eastern exposure beside our house that I want to move the blue atlas cedar to. I would appreciate some feedback on how far to plant the tree from the house, as these get huge at maturity. The bed is approx. 30' from side to side and 10 feet wide at the widest part in the center of the bed. It is a semi circle. The soil is not the greatest in the area I wish to move the tree, and I could use some help in what I need to do to amend the soil to make this a successful move.

i would cut it off at the U just to the right of the stake ... leaving the two pendulous branches ...

and IF it survives... i might think about moving it in fall or very early next spring ...

IMHO ... is too stressed to do it right now .. unless you simply want to make sure it dies.. in which case.. dont bother moving it ..

and then get rid of the stake.. as it wont be needed... once you remove the hanging height ...

or do whatever you want.. all trees are movable. subject to you ability to lift them ... but your ginormous problem is that you are going to have an extremely top heavy plant .. with no root mass to hold it upright ... so is would need incredible large staking .. to hold it in place ...

and will even be worse.. if you have that infamous OH clay .... as it will take a very long time.. for it to root into it.. to hold the large plant upright ...

NEVER amend soil .. see link for how to plant it ...

some guy did a post about how to move a conifer one time...wonder if anyone has a link .. oh never mind.. here is the link:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/conif/msg0209182824004.html?33

note the size i worked with .. and compare it to yours ... and just scale it up to a 2 -3 foot ball of soil .. which means.. you start digging a 4 to 5 foot wide hole to start ...

both of my versions of this thing.. died in my z5 MI ... in adrian MI ... i really dont know if i should encourage you to have a lot of faith ... hence the idea to prune it back.. and leave it be for this summer.. and see if what you end up with in fall.. is worth moving ... and you would do that when the leaves of the deciduous trees turn color ...

where are you???

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Here's a photo of one of the ones that I moved about two years after the move when it still had one stake on it.

Both of the two that I moved were leaning over/weeping and had root balls that looked like small pancakes. As I said, I moved them in winter so they were dormant, and then staked the living daylights out of them on the side away from the weight. Over the next 2-3 years I removed the stakes, not all at once (each one required 3-4 stakes). Ultimately the first one was able to stand (and withstand high winds) without stakes, and the second one is still partway through the process but should be fine.

Ken can speak much more accurately to your zone and conditions, which regards timing, soil type, etc. I have just been pleased at how tough these trees have been. Granted they are from a part of the world that can have rough conditions, esp heat.

Sara

Here is a link that might be useful: Cedrus libani var. atlantica 'Glauca Pendula'

Hi Ken, thank you for answering. Do you mean to cut off the largest weeping branch in the right of the photo, and leave the two skinny branches that weep down? Do I put anything on this cut? I am in North Canton, Ohio- about 60 miles south of Cleveland.

Sara, thank you for your answer. I know it is not the optimum time to move this tree. I might dig around it to see how secure the root system is. If it isn't that big, I may try to move it. I know Ken said he wouldn't do it right now. If I could pop it out of where it is, and pop it into the new location without disturbing the roots, I think I could do it. Will have to see how secure it is in the ground, first.

I am horribly impatient and when I want to move or plant something, it is really hard for me to wait. I've had to learn the hard way...Ken is right - it's not a good time. The plant is under such stress already. If you wait to move it until it is dormant, your chances of success are much greater. Even if you do not disturb the roots, you will change the drainage, the light, etc and change is not what it needs right now as it is pushing new growth. I wouldn't prune it until it gets to its new location and you can evaluate its shape in that site.

Everyone is right-I will wait to move it until fall. Thanks for everyone's advice.

Best of luck with it! Let us know how it goes.

This is the location I am re doing this spring. Does anyone have an idea of where the blue atlas cedar would look good? I will leave this area vacant while I wait for fall to re locate the blue atlas cedar. I am thinking about viburnums at either side of the plot in the background, possibly some landscape roses or mountain laurels in the mid section, and maybe some blue star junipers and a pincushion cypress in the foreground if I can find them. And, a Kordes climbing rose called Amadaeus on the trellis.

Size of root ball depends on several factors, including coarseness of roots, soil type, size and age of plant, and what you can handle. If you dig the ball too large and the plant has coarse roots and/or the soil is too sandy, you may lose the ball. The most important thing is to have a very sharp shovel for cutting through roots without shaking the ball apart. Grind it and file it. Draw a circle on the ground around the trunk, and then follow it around with the back of the shovel facing towards the trunk like in the photo, digging as shown without applying pressure on the root ball.

Now turn the shovel around and shape the top half of the ball by slicing downward with the inside of the shovel all around and making it smaller, to the final desired size.

Now carefully dig a shovel full of soil out of the way all the way around, without disturbing the ball. Then shape the lower half of the ball as shown. Next go all the way around with your sharp shovel and make the final undercut.

After undercutting all around, leave the shovel under the ball and slowly tip the tree towards you and the shovel. Have someone nearby with a hand shears in case you missed a root. If the ball is small enough for you to handle, you can carefully pull it out of the hole with one hand on the shovel and the other on the tree. If the ball is large or if you are worried that it may crumble, don't take any chances - pin the burlap on the ball BEFORE you go around with the undercutting. This way only the very bottom won't be burlaped. If you can't pull it out of the hole, just tip the tree to one side, fill some dirt in the hole on the other side, then tip the tree the other way and fill, repeating until the tree is at ground level.

I use pinning nails but #8 nails would work. A 36" x 36" piece of burlap is plenty for this ball. Pin the burlap tight and twist the nails back so they don't come out. You can rope the ball for added security if you like, but I wouldn't bother if I was replanting it right away.