tips for transplanting italian cypress?

15 years ago

I am planning to transplant 2 Italian Cypress trees from a neighbor's yard to mine. They are about 10 feet tall but have been planted in the shade and the bottom 1/3 of each is brown. She needs to move them now and it's cold here (which is rare). Any tips for the best chances of successfully transplanting them? How often should I water once they're in? Etc. Etc. Any help you can offer will be much appreciated. Thanks!

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Comments (17)

barbaraincalif
15 years ago
A quick search came up with a past post to answer your question.
An oversight of many of us newbies is to look before you ask...me included!

Good luck,
Barbara

Here is a link that might be useful: Transplanting Mature Conifers
tunilla
15 years ago
Thanks for that interesting thread,Barbara.You're very good at diggin'...But I read in A.Bloom's book that Cypresses in general grow tap roots from an early age on.
That may put the poster's project in jeopardy.I imagine a 10' Italian cypress could well have a 3 or 4' taproot. If that were cut,chances of survival might be rather slim.
Anybody got a pair of X-ray specs from the days when we were were teen-agers? T.
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hello everyone, I have seven italian cypresses six to seven ft. apart, I planted them six years ago one suddenly died last year and I replaced it with one the same size as the rest, now they're aprox. 8 to 9 ft. tall. they were all nice and green during and after winter time, now I noticed that two are turning brownish and dry but at the same time there's tiny little green branches popping out from the trunk, they look bad, green in some parts and really dry in others. I don't water these trees with dripping lines, they get the water from the sprinkle system 5 mins. in the morning and 5mins. in the evening, the weird thing is that last year it happened exactly the same thing but only with one of these two during summer time last year and slowly turning green when we were getting close to fall-winter, I really don't have a clue if I'm watering to much or not. and why the other trees look green from the outside and when I stick my hands through the branches they look dryish from the inside, it's getting hard for me to understand these trees. I had a dream long time ago that I had these 7 or 8 italian cypresses lined up tall and green, it would be so sad that now that they're 8 to 9 ft. tall I'll have to chop them down because I let them die. please HELP !!! oh !! and by the way last year I started using this liquid food from Miracle Grow every 2 weeks and it seems it was working good now I started to use it again two weeks ago, should I keep using it, should I stop using it, what kind of food or fertilizer is good for these trees ? thx. Rudy.
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hey gandolf.. welcome to GW ... those look like about 8 foot trees... how big were the pots they came in??? ... were the plants severely rootbound in the pot.???? .. what did you do to deal with that .... why the humongous stakes??? no conifer holds its neeldes forever ... needle loss is increased or complicated by transplant.. one year after transplant.. your plants are not 'fully established' ... did you insert your finger.. or dig a small hole to determine if the soil is damp ... or are you simply guessing about how water is moving thru your soil???? .... and what is your base soil type .. if it is sand ... i surely do not know why you need those stakes ..... all that said ... for very large transplants.. not fully established.. i am at a loss to agree with you that they look like they are suffering.. in fact.. to my eye.. they look pretty darn good ... i would not be surprised if you will be derided for your choice of plants... they are not the best .. and i note multiple leaders that should probably be removed to avoid future problems ... i would have also suggested a diversity of plants.... just in case some plague comes along .... but much of this is hindsight .... ken
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"Next to house" = a couple feet. They've been in our backyard for 7-10 years (Im confident now that its 10...Trying to remember what former home owner said). We moved in 5 years ago. They are beautiful and have done very well here in Dallas, Texas. We are going through a remodel and debated whether to keep them or not. They had to be removed as they were in the path of the expansion. I know odds of them making it may be slim, but I am trying to keep them. Need to transplant immediately. We removed with a tractor, that is here on the jobsite. The root balls are in tact but again, they need to get back in the dirt ASAP. They will NOT get full sun on the side of the house. They'll be in shade more than they are in sun, fyi.
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Christopher, I'm not as hot as you are (I'm in Petaluma) and even here, I have learned, sadly, that I can only plant woody plants in late autumn/winter. If I plant in spring I cannot keep up with the watering and the bone dry air is a real hindrance. If that photo was taken here, it would mean that they were on the way out. I do 80% of my planting in November, and then complete the rest of it during December and January. The only things that I plant in January/February are those that might be slightly tender, and I have to watch them like a hawk for the summer. Putting an umbrella or similar structure over them for the first summer can help. All of the questions about soil type and planting methodology are good ones, but no matter what you did, with the hot dry temps in summer it is really hard for newly planted woody plants to get established, no matter how much you water.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
free or not.. i would not bother with a plant that is soooo stressed.. that it is bare for 1/3 of the plant ...

if it is disease.. it will not have the power to recover from the shock of the transplant ...

also.. if in too much shade.. odds are high.. that once you throw it in full sun.. you will burn all the shade tolerant foliage ...

truncated roots.. plus loss of foliage is not good circ's ....

if you need some severe physical exercise ... go for it ..

or if you are a betting man .. what the heck ...

otherwise.. think long and hard if it will all be worth MAYBE a 25% success ratio ..

for what.. a plant you can buy small for a couple bucks ... which grows like a weed in the right zone ...????

good luck

whatever you decide...

ken
sequoia_stiffy
15 years ago
Get a product called "super thrive". Once heard about an old nurseryman from SF who transplanted two huge trees, everybody told him it was useless and they would die, but he doused them with buckets of that stuff and they made it fine.

Read up on it.

Here is a link that might be useful: superthrive
barbaraincalif
15 years ago
Did you know Superthrive contains the rooting hormone 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid? That may be why it actually works!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
an old nurseryman has EXPERIENCE ...

IMHO .. all amendments are snake oil ...

spend the money on smaller, fresher.. tranplantable stock

ken
sequoia_stiffy
15 years ago
Yeah, don't know, never tried moving a large rootball before. Just heard a lot about it from nurserymen and friends who work in landscaping. The rooting hormone most certainly helps it out, but I'd imagine all the b-vitamins have something to do with it, too. You open the stuff up, it smells like iron. Ken, I wouldn't call amendments snake oil, though. Seems kind of like a silly statement. Some soils are better than others and don't need it. Some are lousier than others and trees planted there could benefit from many amendments.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
think of it this way ...

10 feet tall ... 3 to 4 feet across .... 2 to 3 feet deep ...

depending on soil type.. 2 to 300 HUNDRED POUNDS root ball ... if properly dug and wrapped.. hoiked across the street .... down the road.. over the woods to grandmothers house we go ...

all with a 25% survival rate based on the death of the bottom third of the tree ...

if i were a young stud.. i would enjoy the challenge and the exercise.. and be damned to those who say it cant be done ..

now that i am older and more sage ... the heck with that.. i will buy fresh young stock and dig a two foot round hole.. and stick the potted stock into it..

ken
Embothrium
15 years ago
>he doused them with buckets of that stuff and they made it fineNo controls (untreated plants to compare with) = no proof.

How does anyone know what would have happened without the fertilizer? Maybe the results of the operation would have been the same.

This is how amending of planting hole backfill with bark, peat, perlite etc. was found to not be of benefit: organized experiments repeated in different times and places, with different plants including control groups producing the same result: better growth without amendments.
____________

"Â Vitamin B-1, aka thiamine, does not reduce transplant shock or stimulate new root growth on
plants outside the laboratory
Â A nitrogen fertilizer is adequate for transplanting landscape plants; avoid use of "transplant
fertilizers" that contain phosphate
Â Healthy plants will synthesize their own thiamine supply
Â Healthy soils contain beneficial microbes that synthesize thiamine as well
Â Difficult-to-transplant species may be aided by application of auxin-containing products in
addition to nitrogen, but read the label and donÂt add unnecessary and potentially harmful
chemicals (this includes organics!)
Â Adequate soil moisture is crucial for new root growth; be sure to irrigate new transplants
frequently and use mulch to reduce evaporation"

Here is a link that might be useful: Vitamin B1.pdf
barbaraincalif
15 years ago
Bboy...

A nitrogen fertilizer is adequate for transplanting landscape plants.

What is the recommended rate of application and what formulation of fertilizer is best?
sequoia_stiffy
15 years ago
I generally don't like to move trees bigger than three feet tall. Too risky and uncomfortable for the patient in question. Just re-iterating what I was told by someone with forty + years experience who's opinion might hold some ground to it.

"maybe the results of the operation would have been the same"... or maybe not. Is it really worth arguing about? A ten dollar bottle will last a person a year. Think it's nonsense, than don't buy it. If you're worried about transplanting something that's too big to transplant, than give it a shot. In my opinion, forty years of experience counts. El Fin.
Embothrium
15 years ago
"Research findings and new technology are slow to be incorporated into nursery and landscape practices. Tradition is important and has a distinct place in our society, however, blind allegiance to tradition stymies progress"

- Carl E. Whitcomb, ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF LANDSCAPE PLANTS (1987, Lacebark Inc., Stillwater)
sequoia_stiffy
15 years ago
"BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH, BAH BLAH BAH BAH." - the wisest words ever uttered, by some hotshot with a degree and perhaps a beard.
Embothrium
15 years ago
"Papers published in refereed Scientific Journals: 70+
Technical articles in assorted Journals and Technical publications: 330+
Technical papers presented at Professional Meetings: 400+
Patents granted: 20 USA, numerous foreign patents.
Professional organizations: American Society for Horticultural Sciences, Â
International Plant Propagators Society (President Southern Region, 1989), Â
International Society of Arboriculture, Â American Society of Agronomy, Â Weed
Science Society of America, Â Ecological Society of America, Â Southern
NurserymenÂs Association, ÂOklahoma Nursery and Landscape Association, Â
American Nursery and Landscape Association, Â Texas Nursery and Landscape
Association.
Awards: 1977, Henegar Aware given by the Southern NurserymenÂs Assoc.
for excellence in research. 1983, Chadwick Award, presented by the American
Association of Nurserymen, "To an exceptional educator for superior teaching,
guidance and motivation of students in the nursery and landscape arts and
sciences". 1985, Outstanding Oklahoma Nurseryman. 1986, Wight Memorial
Award given by the Southern NurserymenÂs Assoc. for Outstanding Contributions
to the Nursery Industry. 1987, Outstanding Industry Person Award, by the Florida
Nursery Assoc. 1988, Award of Merit from the Garden Writers Assoc. of
America. 1993, named Fellow of the International Plant Propagators society.
1999, Meadows Award given by the International Plant Propagators Society"

Here is a link that might be useful: bio.pdf
tunilla
15 years ago
Hey Stiffey, More likely,someone with more knowledge & experience than all of us put together... T.
barbaraincalif
15 years ago
Hey...didn't bboy supply that quote to acknowledge he has changed his mind about the benefit of applying fertilizer when transplanting!?!?
sequoia_stiffy
15 years ago
No, I think he was trying to say that I was blindly allegiant to tradition and stymieing progress.

tips for transplanting italian cypress?

Comments (17)

barbaraincalif

tunilla

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