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Gardening in New Zealand

antidotes for transplant shock

24 years ago

I'm just about to move to a new house, and the whole garden is coming with me. I wondered whether anyone could recommend any preparations for stopping moisture loss etc.

I remember that these things were big a couple of years ago, but I've been to some garden centres recently, and they say that the stuff never sold, so most were discontinued. Any help would be marvellous.

Douglas

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Comments (6)

Kiwi_oz
24 years ago
Douglas, Yates still have Stressguard in 1 or 2 Litre bottles you may have to get it from a farm supply place as most Garden Centres find that size to large to stock.
Heather
insignis
24 years ago
I always do 2 things.
First spray all foliage (after pruning if required) with an anti-transpirant like Envy or StressGuard. Perform follow-up applications as per instructions.
Second apply a root initiation stimulant like Formula 20 or PlantStarter, and again follow-up with repeat applications.

Transplanting involves walking a difficult line between over-watering and under-watering. Remember that the roots have been damaged and are therefore unable to perform their usual function of water uptake for the plant.

Apply too much and you will rot the residual roots. You are trying to encourage immediate and maximal root replacement. If the rootzone is continuously saturated it will become anaerobic, cellular growth will halt, and say farewell to any roots. Apply too little and you will hasten the process of dessication. That's why an anti-transpirant buys a little fudge factor into the equation.

Definitely no fertiliser! This will create a zone of higher salt concentration around the root tips then there is in the roots themselves. Water will then diffuse from the roots into the surrounding medium in an attempt to balance the concentration. Yes, the plant will need nutrition to recover, but this comes after root initiation. For example, if I transplant during winter I cautiously fertilise in early October.
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I have failed at pictures thus far.. I work a full time job, and also run my own business so this post hasn't gotten much attention lately! We did have a cool spell for about a week and I noticed that the leaves started looking healthy again, despite my having forgotten to hand water. It looks like this is basically transplant shock that is only appearing when the higher temps come around which makes sense seeing it is a more stressful environment. I think all in all, I should just leave the thing alone and let the roots re-establish themselves. I was surprised since it really isn't that hot, but it looks like 80's and the plant is happy, 90's and the plant gets cranky. All that being said, the wood isn't dying back, and the leaves have stopped dropping so I think it will manage to survive. I will top dress next year to try and give the soil a bit more nutrient density and otherwise just see how things go! Didn't want to leave this post hanging. Thanks again for all the comments.
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Thanks for the response, the nursery gave me Bio Ocean fertilizer which is a pebble type and not liquid they said to sprinkle around the tree and plants surrounding it, so I hope it doesn’t damage the tree now.. because it’s pebbles it hasn’t all been dissolved as yet so I could try remove some..
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Thank you Grace for asking a question I wanted to ask but did't and thank gardengal for offering , "The Myth of Top Pruning" in reference to crown pruning of trees and shrubs. It was was not only very interesting, but also quite helpful to read as it challenged what I had been taught before (crown pruning ), while also giving the reasons as to why this new practice ( no crown pruning) is now being recommended. It is much easier to accept a new way of doing something if one is given the background reasons. The above link lead me to the complimentary link about The Myth of fragile roots https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/fragile-roots.pdf and a link to Horticultural Myths by Linda Chalker -Scott, Washington State University, way too much to read and absorb now but a great read that will probably keep me busy all of next winter https://puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/
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@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) Okay, but I did do a brief search in Google Scholar, which gives a much less clear indication that top pruning will not affect survival. I will also say that Dr Scott's article contains no citations, and having interacted with her Facebook group, you quickly realize they are extremely anti-scientific in most of their discussion. God forbid you actually show them scientific evidence. What really matters in that group is that you repeat the words they tell you to speak, like a mindless robot. These are just two random studies: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15592324.2019.1621246 https://www.auburn.edu/academic/forestry_wildlife/nurserycoop/PDF%20files/effects%20of%20top-pruning%20on%20survival.pdf In the first study: "Repetitive pruning increased absolute root dry weight 43% to 61% and root:shoot ratio 55% to 56% above that of control plants that were not pruned. One year after out-planting, the pruned plants were greater in shoot dry weight and plant height than the control plants. More importantly, control plants exhibited 70% to 80% mortality, but the pruned plants exhibited 100% survival." Okay, that was for one specific species. And it is about pruning while the plant is growing, not pruning as a rescue method, but it does hint at the idea that reducing the burden of leaves on a transplant may be helpful. The second study: "Published studies suggest that top-pruning can increase overall survival of loblolly pine and longleaf pine by 7 and 13 percentage points, respectively. Pruning various hardwood species (mainly after lifting) increased average survival by 5 percentage points. Benefits of top-pruning appear greater when seedlings experience stress after planting and when non-pruned seedlings have low root weight ratios (root dry weight/total seedling dry weight). On some droughty sites, a seedling with a 0.3 root weight ratio might have a 26 percentage point higher chance of survival than a seedling with a 0.2 root weight ratio." Again, that is for a different genera of plants, but the results do suggest top pruning enhanced survival and they say explicitly that the benefits are greatest when the plants experience stress after planting, which is my case. We might run a scientific study on my exact plant and do the pruning after the stress of a transplant develops. That study might end up showing I kill the plant more often by top pruning it. But a quick search of Google Scholar would show anyone that my idea is not being pulled out of thin air, and there is a non-zero chance that my idea might improve plant survival.
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phlip
24 years ago
Hi there, a lot depends on what you are transplanting too... Large trees and shrubs will be terribly stressed and one of the most importnat things you can do is 'wrench' them well ahead of time. If you can't do this the next most imprortant thing is to take as much soil with them as possible and make sure you trim any damaged roots back to encourage new feeder roots when you replant.

I personally think stressguard spray is a cop out as it is not proven to make any difference whatsoever but if it makes you feel better, use it! I am a firm believer that if your plants know you love them they will be okay... Excuse me if that sounds airy fairy, it's not meant to but I have experience in this area.

Make sure the new area you put them into is well composted with a NEUTRAL compost (not mushroom or another 'hot' compost) and use pelletised sheep manure if you can get it.... The main thing is the watering... Water them deeply (like 3 10 ltre buckets for t\rees and shrubs) a couple of times as this promoted deep new root growth....

Most perennials are very tolerant of being moved and should not be a problem.

let me know how you get on.
dougal
Original Author
24 years ago
Thanks for your replies all,
I shifted the first batch of things yesterday-which happened to be accompanied by a searing norwesterly wind.
I suppose you can plan for everything except the weather!
I'll let you know how I get on with the 3m beech tree.
Douglas
gingko
24 years ago
I transplanted magnolias and camellias last year and watered them in with a weak seaweed solution. All are doing well - except the possums ate just about every single magnolia bud last week...don't suppose you need any more possums over your side of the Tasman (sorry, bad joke.)
Robert_NSW
24 years ago
If the weather is a problem, cover the plants with cloth (a sheet) or hessian to lessen the effect of the wind. It will lower the demands on water loss.

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