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Will my boxwood recover from transplanting?

15 years ago

I transplanted a smallish boxwood back in mid-March, and not long after moving it the leaves became crispy and started dropping like crazy. If I shook the bush you could hear the leaves hit the ground! I did water it quite a bit after moving it, and in May I watered in some "Roots" fertilizer on the advice of my local nursery. Now there is new growth at the tips of the branches, which is happy news, but the rest of the branches are nearly bare. Will this boxwood grow new leaves along its branches, or will it be sparse in the middle with growth on the tips forever? My husband loves this bush, and I'll feel awful if I did it in by moving it....

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Comments (2)

Dibbit
15 years ago
It will grow new leaves.

Right now, it should be putting its energy into growing new roots, which is best done in a low nitrogen situation. Don't fertilize it any more, unless your soil test showed something seriously lacking. It should be fine by next year, and probably by the end of summer.

If you haven't mulched around it, do so - as widely as possible, no deeper than 4", and put NO mulch in the couple of inches next to the trunk.

It will need regular watering for the next 2 years, but according to how dry the soil gets, not on a set schedule. Stick a finger in the soil, next to the root ball, down to the second knuckle, under the mulch - or use a pointed dowel. If the finger-tip is dry, water, if damp, wait and check again. Soak it well, long and slow, so the water gets to the bottom of the root ball. You should give it the equivalent of an inch of rain per week, but your circumstances - soil, weather, etc. - will dictate how much water that is and how often you need to apply it.
lceh
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you! I feel much better about it now. I will do as you suggest.
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I have found that making a largish area of mulch (out at least a foot, more if possible) around the whole project makes it looked planned, rather than "plunked down". If you are going to plant something in the middle, then you will mulch anyway, I assume? Half-finished projects look strange, and as though they are "wrong", almost all the time. I just have to imagine the finished look, and keep going. If you REALLY hate it, you can, this fall when things are dormant, dig them up and re-arrange them - but I wouldn't really advise doing that more than once, if only because of the work involved. A single (even if a multi-trunked specimen) crape myrtle won't cast a lot of shade - a ginkgo, depending on the cultivar, might cast a good bit more. It looks like you got some really nice boxwoods - and as long as you care for them well, they should give you years of enjoyment. Keeping the root balls moist, but not drowning them is the key factor in survival.
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