Best time: spring. Second best time: late summer-early fall.

Soak the soil well at the drip line. Dig down 1 foot (0.3m) and soak again. Wait 1 week. Dig down another foot (0.3m), soak again. Wait 1 week. Dig under the root ball. Transfer to a waiting hole, carefully. Fill and soak.

Or dig up as much root ball as you can, put it into the new hole, trim off about a third of the foliage and pray.

Joe

Thanks a lot Joe!

Thought I would add our experience. In the week after Xmas 2010 ( temperatures in high 30s for the whole week) we decided to try and transplant 8 lilly pilly trees with trunks approx. 8 - 10cm thick, which had been kept pruned to about 2 metres in height and not sure of age. We didnt care if we ended up buying new plants but thought we would give it a go. We haphazardly pruned the trees back hard( one ended up with no leaves at all). We use a pick axe to dig a circle ( trench) out about 30cm all round from each trunk, soaked the soil with water and then used a pruning hack saw, pushing it down into the trench where ever we felt there was a thick root still holding on, then rocked tree back and forward until all roots snapped. The roots ended up shredded and totally bare of soil. The area we were moving them to was very dry with clay about 15cm down. We roughly broke up the clay in a circle just larger than the roots and added the only soil we had which was a sandy loam and some wetting crystals. We then stood the lilly pilly roots ontop of this and then mounded more sandy loam over the roots where ever they lay. We knew this would dry out too quickly so we used broken bark pieces (unused from wood pile) and piled this all over the sandy loam mound ( theory was to try and shade the sandy stuff). We installed a drip water system with a drip at base of each trunk ( We flatten the mound around the base of the trunk and pulled back the bark so water wouldnt just run straight off top of bark and down sides of mound). We watered the trees whenever we watered the vegies and every second day I sprayed the outside of the bark mounds ( theory - to keep them moist? ). We transplaned two murrayas ( spelling ?) at the same time in the same way. We decided to keep treating them like live plants until THEY showed us they were dead. Now... 1 month later, with more temps of over mid thirties ( even 40s) ALL of the plants have began showing new shoots up the branches with two even beginning to fruit again. The Murrayas showed new shoots within the first two weeks even though they were taken out last when we were totally fed up with trying to be NICE to the plants. As you can see... We didnt know what we were doing.. had no advice... and were not gentle. These trees just seem to live on and on. to anyone thinking about transplanting lilly pillies.. give it a go,.. you have nothing to lose.

Just letting you know that another month has passed and all the trees are covered with new growth with more small buds coming out of the trucks and branches. We are so glad that we didnt just replace them with smaller new ones. As now we have 1.8 metre trees that will take off very fast once they set in a,ll those roots. All we have done in looking after them for the last month has been to turn on drip system ( one at base of each tree ) for about 10 mins once a week. I dont even water the mound any more. Hope this helps someone.