transplanting a larger apple tree

14 years ago

I have a ten year old Jonathon apple tree on semi-dwarfing stock that over time has become shaded by surrounding trees. The apples are smaller than billiard balls.

I would like to transplant it to a sunnier location if possible. The tree has a 4 inch diameter base and is about 10 feet tall.

How possible is this to do? If possible is it best to do in the early dormant season or in early spring? Should a large earth ball be cut out or can the tree be transplanted bare root? Should the tree be severely pruned for this move?

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Comments (2)

applenut_gw
14 years ago
Aroya:

The weight of the tree and rootball will be immense, not something for a homeowner unless you have a Backhoe or other heavy equipment.

There are professional tree movers that have a tractor with this gizmo on the front that has four hydraulic spades that spear under the tree and lift it, carrying it to the new hole; it could be pretty pricy. The tree mover can tell you the best time to move it, but I suspect it will be after dormancy but before the ground freezes.

It would be a lot cheaper to just plant another tree...

Applenut
alan haigh
14 years ago
In my opinion and experience you can move this tree bare root, but even that will be quite a job, even if the soil is not too heavy or rocky. You can do this during fall or spring dormancy. I use a heavy cultivating fork with bent tines so you swing it like a hoe and carefully pull away the dirt from the roots freeing up as much root as possible untill the tree can be lifted to its new home.

If you do a good job and get lots of root the tree will actually anchor pretty well even without being staked. It is still a good time to do any major structural pruning that is useful for the tree anyway. If the tree doesn't seem solidly anchored than you will need to stake it.

It will take at least a season for the tree to recover and you need to make sure it has adequate water until it does.

If you have access to cheap labor, you may want to go that route as this will be several hours of hard work. In the long run, I believe bare root transplanting is better for the tree than balling when moving to a contrasting soil. No matter how you transplant a tree, you loose most of the funtioning root system (fine hair roots) unless you remove huge balls of soil- much more than is generally done. Tree spades really butcher a trees root system.

Apples are strong trees and usually recover even from relatively brutal transplants. Be sure to remove the flowers and/or fruit (sooner the better) for at least one season and maybe two. Fruit is the first energy sink of fruit trees and slows down re-establishment to a point that can be fatal.
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plus add a year or two after you plant a tree to let the roots get established (before you grow fruit). IMO this is very important. I tried your way ONCE and I failed, not saying you will, but Ive had better experience with seedlings IMOO. This is on fruit trees, where you want the fruit right now. Bought two apple trees about 5 ft high at 40 bucks a piece with small apples on them. They both got borers and other nasty diseases. one completely died and the other one is hanging on for dear life all scared up from me digging out the borers. I planted a seedling apple tree last year and it is looking superb. One more important thing to remember is that you buy fruits trees suitable to your area. good luck
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transplanting a larger apple tree

Comments (2)

applenut_gw

alan haigh

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