I live on six acres of native woods in Northern California. The highway was re-routed about 10 years ago across the south of my property. A bare bank of about 20 high of fill material was left was left for my view. I dug and transplanted many native tree from my property and transplanted them to the bare soil. Because I could not easily get water to them I planted during our wet season, the winter here. Almost all the transplants grew with no water. Digging native trees from the woods is best done when they are very small, eight inches is about right. Trees tend to put down a tap root before growing foliage and if dug when larger it is difficult to not break the root. Al

Great reply Terri! With that number of trees, your dad is facing a serious control issue with dem varmints. And I'm sure he realizes that the feeding is perpetuating the problem to some degree. Lots of does coming thru the winter healthy and able to deliver fawns. Could be a buildup in population 'til the trees reach that size. +oM

You can pot up weak root-systems late in the fall but you need to keep these seperated from the others. These you can graft on around March if a greenhouse is kept heated. Clement dwarf pines graft... I saw this and I knew it had all been done before! Take care, Dax "Without imagination, there is no success." I made that up.

Yewyew, white pines and many conifers will readily form new terminal leaders on their own. Usually, no splinting or even selection is necessary. These trees have long been programed to have such damage occur, and have developed ways to offset the damage. In the event that on one or more of the trees, multiple leaders do emerge and one doesn't seem to be taking the top spot, then yes, a little judicious pruning of the other shoots may be called for. But that's for down the road. Right now, there's nothing for you to do except wait for the trees to fix themselves. And keep the deer away! +oM