Wow, that is certainly record setting growth! From a 5 gallon container to a tree with a 1'6" caliper in 2 years! What kind of fertilizer are you using? (-;

Assuming you meant 1.5", you should be able to transplant the tree with about a 20"-24" rootball. Is weight the only reason you want to go bare root? If you are only moving it across a playground, couldn't you just get a low-bed or tilt trailer and work with the weight? You could even rap the rootball well and place it on a board and drag it very slowly behind a car. The tree would fare better if moved with the rootball intact, especially since you are probably talking about the same soil type at the new location. Digging through clay isn't that hard as long as the soil is somewhat moist. The clay around here is about like a brick if it's dry, but a little water and things change quickly. My advice, besides the obvious correct planting techniques, proper mulching, and aftercare/watering, is to try to minimize root disturbance where possible.

There could also be issues related to how the tree was planted initially. Hopefully it was planted at the correct depth and didn't have any encircling/girdling roots.

Believe me, I did not expect that kind of growth like that. I suppose pictures would help...
{{gwi:490850}}From Live Oak
April of 2007
{{gwi:490852}}From Live Oak

December of 2008 {{gwi:490854}}From Live Oak

Looks to be almost 2.5" caliper for the bottom trunk.

Hopefully it would be easy digging it up. I have a tarp that I can place on and drag 60 feet.

I suppose that kind of growth came from fertilizer, deep watering once a month and generous mulching....

Then again, a montezuma cypress next to it went from less than inch caliper at the base of trunk to 4 inches in a year... Must be something in the dirt, lol..

Hey Lou, you didn't catch it. You have 1.5 feet in the title, not 1.5 inches. When I first read the title, I was thinking you would need a semi to move the thing and an excavator just to dig it out. Then again, at the rate it's growing, it may not be long before it gets to that point.

Heh. I didn't see that one. Oops. When you have a 3 years old kid bothering you, your attention span is pretty small...

Lou: That growth is phenomenal! At the risk of getting banished from the forum, what fertilizer did you use?

Organic fertilizer really. Hydrolyzed fish liquid fertilizer. Soybean meal, alfalfa pellets, seaweed, etc but mulches and deep watering really made biggest difference.

Doesn't matter. The HOA is going full ahead with all kinds of poison to get rid of a few weeds and bugs (mostly ants but there were tons of lady bugs). I tried to get them to go pesticide free with the park but apparently they don't give a rat's ass about it. Probably end up killing trees anyway.

Great looking specimen! I have lots of 1 year seedlings planted last year of various oaks and hickories/pecans. I don't think I'll expect anything similar to that except maybe from the Willow Oak, N. Red Oak, and Pecan. I think my next project would be to make the ring of mulch around my trees larger. Did you just use Round Up to clear out the grass...it makes me nervous! I could always smother or dig or both hehe.

Thanks. I didn't use the round up at first. I just threw the mulch over grass but since it is bermuda grass aka devil's grass that is hard to get rid of. It is commonly used for lawn. The problem is that it spreads underground so you have to spray round up as much as I hate to use it to get kill them in the mulches on calm days. Mostly, I just pull them out but the problem was that they threw pesticide (ortho brand) around trees and I couldn't do much about it. HOA won't work with me at all for some reason. I asked for help but totally ignored me so i was forced to use my own water to get them established (planted in the previous fall) and now the president got a lawyer involved and seemed to threatened me over the trees??? It was the previous HOA that asked me to plant trees. Talk about bi-polar!

Lou: Thanks for the advice. That tree is outstanding.

I planted 6 or 7 live oaks about the size of your first photo this fall. A few weeks later, a weak hurricane came through, followed by a nor'easter. All leaves are gone but I think the trees are okay.

In my experience, HOAs don't appreciate free thinkers or people who take action without getting permission, regardless of the logic of your position. They favor obedient conformists. I don't think anyone would put you into the latter category.

Pam,

I don't know about free thinker. I'm mainly independent type that looks at both sides in great details and decide which one to pick one. HOA from last year who asked me to plant trees are totally different than the ones this year. Free thinkers to commies, just like that!

Thanks. I'm glad that you think the tree looked great. Ironically, it's the first tree that was planted at the park with the permission of HOA president at that time. The current president apparently threatened legal actions against me regarding the trees at the park now so I don't know. I asked for help all year long but no help. What choices do I have? Let them die or keep them die? I couldn't not let them die so I used my water to keep them alive through harsh weather over here. Crazy...