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Transplanting a small volunteer Bloodgood

12 years ago

My father has a mature Bloodgood japanese maple in his yard, and every year he gets new volunteers sprouting up around it. We've successfully transplanted some in the past, both in his yard and into someone else's, and now it's time for me to take one and put it in the front yard of my new house.

Some background and local info:

* I am in zone 6b/7a, east TN, and the leaves are just starting to turn around here (but everything is still mostly green).

* The soil in my yard should be comparable to the soil in my father's yard.

* It will be moving from mostly shade (under the parent Bloodgood and near the house) to mostly sun.

* The seedling I plan to grab is very young-- it's probably 2-3 feet tall at the most, and the trunk is probably 0.5".

* I will try to get the biggest rootball I can, but it is sure to be tangled with the roots of some other landscape plants, so I may be able to get more roots on one or two sides and not evenly all the way around.

* I intend to transplant in about two weeks, but can wait a little longer if it would be better.

I have read the proper procedures for planting trees (root flare just above grade, wide planting hole, etc.) but is there anything in particular I need to watch out for in transplanting this Bloodgood? I've never planted a japanese maple before.

Thanks for any input or advice!

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Comments (4)

botann
12 years ago
Just don't let ANY of the roots dry out.
I have transplanted hundreds of Japanese Maple volunteers.
Mike
chisey
Original Author
12 years ago
Sounds like good advice . . . in terms of execution are there steps that would help achieve that? Should I water the transplants the day before I dig them up? Would that help, or just create a mess?

Or are you just talking about post-transplant watering?
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If the shade the Bloodgood is in comes from a much larger tree, it's very likely the big tree is out-competing the Bloodgood for water, even after six years. This would be especially true if the soil in which the Bloodgood was planted was amended; this would have attracted the roots of the larger tree.The much smaller transplanted root mass of the Bloodgood can compete in early spring, but when the larger tree is fully leafed out, it will suffer. Even record rainfall will not necessarily help, although it's obviously much better than drought. If the shade is not from another tree, then wind, excess fertilizer, lack of water holding organic material in the soil,and/or too little mulch are likely culprits.
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Embothrium
12 years ago
Move when leafless. Take bare-rooted, get as much of the root system as possible instead of trying to move intact soil balls.

Seedlings of 'Bloodgood' are not entitled to the name. They will instead be unnamed red-leaved Japanese maple seedlings.
chisey
Original Author
12 years ago
Move when leafless. Take bare-rooted, get as much of the root system as possible instead of trying to move intact soil balls.

Leafless . . . that probably means waiting an extra couple of weeks, which I thought might be good. I'll just have to convince my better half that we're better off waiting.

Why do you say we shouldn't try to move a soil ball? It won't be that large and my intention was just to wrap it in plastic or put it in a pot/bucket for the 25 minute drive to its new home.

Seedlings of 'Bloodgood' are not entitled to the name. They will instead be unnamed red-leaved Japanese maple seedlings.

I can't have that. He'll need a name. Perhaps Jonas, or possibly Franklin.

I don't really care if it's exactly the same variety or not; the only thing I find particularly nice about my dad's tree is that it has a very interesting trunk. Otherwise I don't know that I find Bloodgoods to be all that special anyway.

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