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Transplanting River Birch

16 years ago

Hello. I hope someone here can help! I want to move two good sized river birches. I know that they transplant rather easy, but these guys are about 10-15ft tall and have probably a 6-8in caliper. I would use a tree spade(the type you hook up to a skid-steer). Do you think they will servive? I have a bunch of them, but i want to move a couple down by the creek. Any advise would be great!

Thanks in Advance!

Sarah

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Comments (5)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
if you have a choice of which to move .... i would go for a 6 to 8 footer ... 2 inch caliper ...

better chances of survival in my opinion ...

in zone 5 ... move them as soon as the ground is thawed ... but no later than 4/15 ...

so they have 6 to 8 weeks of cool damp spring.. before the heat of summer kicks in in late may ... i do this size by hand with a shovel .. oak, cherry .... and anything else i feel like moving ...

mulch a 4 to 6 foot circle around the tree ..

you are responsible to insure they stay moist all summer and fall .. insert finger to second knuckle to find out how water moves through your soil ...

water in drought next year ... pretty much free range thereafter.. unless you go with the bigger ones.. then i might go for a 2nd year of avoiding drought ...

below is a picture of a 7 footer .. dug bare root ... sorry for the fuzzy focus ... note the date on the picture ...

always dig the new hole first ... good luck

ken
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cascadians
16 years ago
Hi, bought 2 last spring, in black pots, large, plunked them in creeklets. They had die-back but look like they've survived this winter and have swelling buds on all branches. The creeklets having lots of standing/moving water in fall and winter but completely dry out by summer. I water overhead with sprinklers and hose by hand.

Your trees sound pretty large. I've had better success planting / transplanting smaller trees.

My 2 Heritage River Birches about a week ago:

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lets see a pic of the whole plant... how huge is this thing ball and burlap professionally installed??? .. if so.. what does your pro say amended planting hole??? native soil type??? .. one way or another.. its transplant shock.. probably improper watering.. see link in that regard ... lawn irrigation is completely insufficient for a large tree transplant... is the entire root mass planted.. moist ... if not.. its dying of thirst... dig a hole next to where the root ball is.. and FIND OUT.... guessing leads to dead trees ... you missed proper planting time by at least 2 to 3 months ... so though it can still be done.. its very complicated by the high heat of summer .. it has absolutely nothing to do with disease or bugs... unless you bought an infested tree.. which i doubt ... if you perfect watering.... it should releaf ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link
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'wilt' is a term of art ... suggesting disease of some sort ... yours is 'wilting' ... due to handling and transplant shock ... refer to the link below.. and lets discuss everything thing you did contrary ... perhaps a replanting would be in order ... all that said.. its late fall .. the leaves are supposed to fall off.. transplant or not ... we just need to perfect planting and care ... to insure the roots remain functioning ... for spring bud out ... personally ... i probably would have left it in the pot.. until the leaves fell off.. and then planted it ... and guess what.. i wouoldnt be all wound up about the leaves looking like this .... but it took me decades to learn that trick ... depending where you are.. the tree could have already been shutting down for winter .... and the planting just sped it up ... ken https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub
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sarahbarah27
Original Author
16 years ago
All of my trees are 10-15ft tall, probably leaning closer to 15ft. And they all have a 5 inch or more caliper. Maybe I shouldn't bother trying to move them, and just get a couple more from the nursery. We will see. Thanks for your input!

Sarah
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
if you have to rent the tree spade ... may as well just consider buying smaller new stock ...

if you have the spade available for free ... and spare trees ... what the heck .. go for it.. all you lose is some good exercise ....

timing is everything on moving trees... just do it at the appropriate time..

ken
suzili
15 years ago
Hi, I just tranplated a 3 ft high birch from the front of the yard to the back. The tree had two roots almost like an index finger and thumb like two large carrots. The roots were as thick as two fingers and there weren't any smaller roots. I took about 4 ft of root in one direction and about 3 ft. of root in the other direction. Let's see whether my transplant works next spring. So far i've successfully transplanted 2 oaks, 2 spruce, 2 maples, 1 pine. Unsuccessful with 1 pine. Wish me luck!

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