in my zone 5 .. i would move them about mid-october .... which would give me about 90 days until soil freeze ... and they would be safe from high temps or indian summer temps ... perhaps a call to you local extension office or soil conservation office will get you a better idea of the proper timing ... because timing is everything ... try the phone book under US Government ... the conifer would be no different than the other... a plant is a plant ... water well ... in advance ... dig the new hole first... dig out the plant... move to new hole.. insure PROPER water until late in the fall .. do NOT drown them ... and you will be responsible for PROPER water all next year ... both need water.. neither is a swamp plant.. so let them dry out in between watering ... good luck ken

CORRECTION : Bob, I had told you a wrong name, the 3 pups in tray, right, in previous pic are not O. alvimii x gurkenii, actually they're (O.saxicola x gurkenii) x O. magalhaesii Here you will see, the blooming plant of O. saxicola x gurkenii is on above left while the true (O.saxicola x gurkenii) x O. magalhaesii is blooming plant above O. gurkinnii, and those inflorescences up on the right is that of 'Iron Ore' From your pics, I should state that all yours are Orth. 'Starlights' Though in some growth conditions, both cv. may look alike, but 'Iron Ore's spines are more prominet than those of 'Starlights' and also the blooming habits are quite different. Orth. 'Starlights' at bottom right. Orth. 'Starlights' : shorter with bright green larger bracts. 'Starlights' when forms slips - the pup from inflorescence. This is early blooming of Orth. 'Iron Ore' : longer with cone-like, lime green bracts. A mature Orth. 'Iron Ore' in bloom. Orth. 'Iron Ore' at bottom right corner, 'Starlights' at far right.

gweb email isn't the best lately .. i will presume its about watering .... with trees/conifers... infrequent DEEP watering is better than the opposite... water as you usually do .. then take a small hand trowel ... and dig under your trees.. kinda hard with motherlode ... but do it.. see if your watering protocol has gotten sufficient water to the root zone... presuming you planted potted plants... with roots throughout the medium .. you need to be sure that water is making it all the way down to the roots ... since you have multiple plants.. try differing methods on each and see how the watering works ergo .. a long deep trickle to insure water throughout the root zone.. once every week or two is better than a superficial spray every day ... it is hard to tell you more than this because i don't know your soil... and how water moves through it ... i give you variables.. you have to figure out what they need in your yard ... in fall ... even with the cool weather... we tend to forget that it can be drought ... a fall droughted plant can suffer damage in the winter ... here in my z 5 ... hoses start freezing in late October ... and one becomes inclined to roll them up and put them away .... but the ground doesn't freeze until after new year .. i have learned the hard way ... that conifers and trees benefit greatly from a last deep watering late in the fall ... again ... i have never gardened in z8 ... nor a zone that the ground doesn't freeze .... so i don't know what to tell you.. other than the above.... it seems that a lot of 'sperts' aren't around... perhaps they are on vaca ... i hope one comes along and clarifies it for your zone... good luck ken

That is very big! My 20 yrs. old mother plant is only 6x4 ft and also under a blue spruce, but a P.pungens 'Globosa' standard. I layered several of the branches and now have 1 sqft baby plants growing elsewhere. One baby is next to a baby P. 'Blaukissen', the other next to a baby Pinus mugo 'Carstens'. 'Mother Lode' is yellow now and 'Carstens' is green, in winter 'Mother Lode' will be purplish, 'Carstens' will be yellow. Bernd