i wouldn't waste my time and effort on doing it ....

if i wanted to consider such.. i would hire a dude with a tree spade.. and have them moved professionally .... but then.. the shear cost would stop me from that ...

anything can be done.. its a simple function of cost.. and odds ... and with this big a tree... i would think 50 to 75% success rate.. if done to perfection ...

ken

Thanks,
That was what I thought but was hoping for better odds. I guess we either need to live with where they are or plant new ones and wait for them to fill in before moving these.

Cindy

I had 8 'Green Giant' arbs moved about 10 or 12 weeks ago. Mine were probably all between 10 and 14 feet tall. I had them moved to a friend's house down the street. I also had 9 other trees moved around my property the same day. A bobcat, tree spade, and a crew of 3 cost me $1100 for the day here in suburban Atlanta. None of the 17 trees that were moved seem to know any difference - they all look great! I'm sure seasonal timing and the fact that we've had lots of rain the past few months haven't hurt. And I suppose things could still go south, but I see no indication of any problems at all.

I think the trick is to find somebody with a tree spade that's big enough. I think I remember somebody saying you want about 10" of tree spade diameter for every 1" of tree trunk diameter. I believe that spade that was used for my job was a 36", even though some of the trees were probably pushing a 4" or possibly even a 5" trunk diameter.

Matt

Thanks for the information, that is a lot more reasonably priced for the spade than I thought. I will have to look into seeing what it would cost locally, might be worth possibly loosing a few if we can get the look we are going for and not having to start from scratch.

Check with your local tree nurseries or tree farms for the spade. None of the tree service companies had them in my area. One said "We don't move trees, we REMOVE trees!". Gotcha! I finally found a fellow with a tree spade on our county extension website. Turns out he had a small tree farm, but he didn't have a big enough spade. However, he gave me the name of a larger tree nursery, and that's where I found my spade and crew. Good luck!

Matt