Transplanting Quercus Agrifolia

[socal natives]

Hi evreyone,

I am new here and this is a great site.

Does anyone have experience with transplanting Quercus Agrifolia.

It is about 7' with a 3" trunk, and it is close to the house. I could trainit so it is a nice accent to the house but it is about 6' from the house and it would also crowded out or compete with a 25' Ginkgo biloba

So if I transpant it do I

- Trench around the base and cut the roots for a nice rootball one year before I transplant (do I have to wait a year or could I trench this fall and plant early spring?)

- Water regularly

- Transplant after a year or next spring

- Plant appropriately make sure the base is high enough and make sure north faces north

- follow up with the correct amount of water

Thanks for your help

 

[Lumberjacked]

You're gonna have a heck of a time transplanting a 3" caliper tree without a spade. 10" of root ball for every 1" of diameter on the tree....

 

[socal natives]

Thanks for the 10" for evry 1" rule of thumb.

I will porbably leave it and train it away from house and the oher tree.

If you do transplant do you need to cut around it first and let it sit for a year?

 

[Robert Dockery]

I'm transplanting some now, by hand, that have come up from acorns and they are tough to keep the rootballs intact without wrapping them. Seemingly not much knitting of roots at a young age.

 

[troythetreeman]

might want to look into tree spade rentals, the right tool is huge and youll have it done in no time
in minnesota the fall is the best time, idk about cali, these things can be regional, but the idea is it is less shock to the tree
watering is good
the longer you wait the bigger the tree gets
if youre serious about giving the tree its best chance hire someone
if you just want to move it and hope for the best, dig out your root ball, bundle it up and put it in its new hole
a tree that size, root ball and all is going to be _heavy_

 

[beastmaster]

The longer you wait the harder it'll be to seccesfully transplant a Live Oak. They put down some serious stabilizing roots early beyond the drip line. The soil type can make a difference also. Live Oaks are drought tolerant to a degree, and they do this by having a massive root system. Very young ones will have a deep tap root that should be preserved to increase survival. I have seen a lot of big matured Quercus agrifolia that were transplanted only to show problems 5 or 10 years down the road.
Cutting the roots a 1/3 each year would maybe help the tree from stress, but its a 3'' tree is it worth it?
This is the right time of year, go for it and try to get as much root ball as possible. It it survives great, if not get a new one. Probably cheaper and less labor intensive to just plant a new one.