This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Moving an Oak Tree
chrisj.lewis
Posts: 2
i have a small ish Oak Tree (4m tall) which I have grown in the wrong place.
Can I move it?
And what time of year is it best to move it?
Thanks.
0
Posts
There's an oak tree of about that size just across the way from here. I wouldn't try to move it! That's a job for specialists with the right equipment. Have you any idea how heavy the rootball of a tree that size will be?
and how are you going to stake it well enough to withstand the winter winds over the next few years until it becomes properly re-established?
And it will need copious watering from march through to autumn I'd say a minimum of three buckets full every other day ... More in dry spells ... for the next couple of years so no going away for summer holidays
If you do try it please watch out for your back!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Blimey - you're keen Chris!
Think I'd wait for bareroot season and buy another one instead, and just take that one out, but if it hasn't been there long, and you're up for the work, follow the previous advice. If it's been there a year or two, it won't be so easy.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I've got some young oak in our wood which are being crowded out and I suggested moving them to our tree surgeon. He said they have , what you might call, a tap root. He's tried to move them before and if this main root is undamaged, they're fine, but if it's broken , it'll die.
Mine are only about 3m tall and I'm not going to chance it, but I'd be pleased to hear how you get on.
I did move a young oak sapling when we moved here - don't know how old, as it was already in situ, but it was taller than me (though that's not very hard!). It was growing on a bank, so a bit easier to get at roots and I just dug a hole and plonked it in. It certainly didn't get any special aftercare, but we do have a high rainfall.
30 + years on it has grown into a nice quirkily shaped tree and I noticed this year has embryonic acorns! So it could be worth taking a chance.
Twelve I have to say this is my first time asking a Q on BBC Gardenworld and I am very impressed with the service from fellow members. Thank you all so much.
i do enjoy a challenge - so from above and with my eyes open, my plan will be
1) A good prune - to make it smaller
2) A big dig, to get down under that tap root
3) 2 of my wife's 30-something sons plus me to lift it
4) Plant it up top of garden where if it flea over it won't hit the house (or anything else
5) Sone watering" but only to supplement the natural English
Fingers crossed, it may not survive. But theres is no alternative as it can't stay where it is. If I don't move it, and it keeps growing as it has, it will be huge and is too close to the house casting a massive shadow over the first half of the garden.
my error for planting it the in the first place.
Thanks again to everyone who has replied. Much appreciated.
well if it's got to go .... Good luck ... And watch your backs!!!
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Not many of us have a wife with 30 sons to choose from... How did it go?
We had an Oak tree in our last house which started as an acorn our 7 year old daughter planted, grow a couple of years in a pot, then a few of years in the middle of the lawn, then about 5 years beside the compost heap before moving, at about 4 meters, to a final spot when we had 2 large Scots pines removed at the bottom of the garden.
Each move was with an increasingly large ball, the last time just manageable in a wheelbarrow. Upside down plastic bottle with bottom cut off buried with it and filled with water quite often in the summer
It survived well and when we left the house was 20 years old with plenty of acorns and a good shape.
Hope yours does as well
As the OP only ever made 2 posts onto the site I very much doubt they are going to respond to a question after 4 years.