Tree move endeavor started... Interesting task, hopefully it works!

We lost two old huge dying Maples this year in the front yard. One was 4 foot through, the other one 3 foot.

So out at my old shop property today to cut in a drainage swale I spied a potential transplant replacement with some size already. A red Oak about 4 inches or more through and about 26 or 28 feet tall, pretty straight and no limbs for probably 8 feet.

Forget the drainage project... time to put Hulk Jr. to work moving a tree! (John Deere 1025R) I have used this method twice with great success on smaller trees before but this will be… interesting!

I dug a trench around the oak so that I ended up with an about 5-1/2 foot square. (All the roots were in the top 8 or 10 inches of the soil except for perhaps a tap root) Also dug a ramp up out of one corner. See the photos. I will likely have to dig out one entire side of the hole as a ramp to pull the tree out of the hole.

Next I will loop a thin aircraft cable around the dirt ball in the bottom of the trench and up and out via the ramp. Then I will pull the cable through with my truck, or tractor or both… to slice off the lump of soil and any deep roots. Hay it worked twice before!

So now I will have a tree with a 5-1/2’ across square root "ball" about 20 inches deep. By my math estimates it will be roughly 4500 pounds. I can lighten the load by taking a pressure washer to remove some excess dirt once out of the hole without damaging any more roots.

The last one I did I was able to winch up ramps into a truck bed, truck in a ditch to lower it, with a 2 ton come-a-long… but just barely made it. This one is much bigger.

I have a tilt bed trailer, a 75 foot wrecker cable with one block (pulley, power doubler) for this one.

If I can’t drag the tree and root ball out of the hole and up onto the trailer I may have to hire a roll back wrecker to load and move it. Still worth it. But that would be… cheating… and not free or nearly as fun! Of corse the tree has to be laid over to haul it, trunk wrapped for protection etc etc.

Tree will get automatic in-ground drip irrigation for the first year or two.

I’ll update with my progress when (if ) it happens. It is going to rain tomorrow… so a delay, a good thing for the tree as the ground is bone dry and rock hard.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cparktd,

Cheating even more, but it may have been worthwhile to rent a tree spade to move it.

quote:

Originally posted by DougE:
Cheating even more, but it may have been worthwhile to rent a tree spade to move it.

None local that I have ever seen. And likely not cheap. But yea, where is the fun in that?

quote:

None local that I have ever seen. And likely not cheap. But yea, where is the fun in that?

It's kind of fun moving trees with a spade until you have that last hole to fill in and you just have a shovel to do it with lol. One of the things I was paid to do as an arborist was running the spade on occasion. Preferred to be in the top of a tree, but running the spade was nice for a change.

Late fall & early spring are the time to plant, or transplant trees. I’ve been doing more of that. I also mark & protect desirable trees that come up on their own.

You need to trim the tree back, as roots were damaged in the transplanting. It will need extra care for the next three to five years, and not grow much.
I watched heavy equipment successfully transplant several live oaks that were over two hundred years old. An arborist was on hand and the trees are fine today{That was twenty years ago}.

That's cool.

Just a plain aluminum pole, dusted off from storage in the crawlspace this year.

And an airing of grievances.

One axiom that rings true, the smaller the tree, the easier to plant or transplant. The success rate is also higher with smaller trees.

Well I will likely trim it up a bit and a 5-1/2 ft rootball should up its chance of survival I reckon. Also, red oaks have no tap root to damage So thats a plus, I googled it! I’m out only time if it doesn't make it.

It didn’t rain much at all so Im going to give it a good watering today since it’s bone dry right now.

I was thinking I might wrap the trunk with some old carpet then duct tape to protect it unless someone has a better idea.

Oh, its moving 10 miles.

You need to make sure it gets an inch of water per week and go easy on any fertilizer. Post back in a couple of years with a pic.

Got it home but forgot to bring the hole...

Measures 29'8" to the tip of the top most leaf. I'm calling it a 30 footer. Got out of the hole and here with a ~4 foot across root ball about knee high. Cant lift it with my 1000 lb rated loader. 14 feet to the first limb. I'll measure the circumference of the trunk later. I trimmed it up a little bit and removed a couple crossed branches and watered it well.

hopefully plant it in a 2 or 3 days or so unless I decide to grind out the old stump and plant it there.