Moving Evergreen

[PMS]

Need advice on how to move a 7 foot evergreen (don't know what kind it is). It's approximately 4-5 years old. Diameter is approximately 5-6 inches. I live in Washington State so usually no frost until late October. Any advice would be appreciated as I cannot afford to have it professionally moved.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Do you mean it was a balled tree planted 4 or 5 years ago, or shot up from the ground 7 feet in 4 or 5 years?
Either way, i think you could move it by hand. Will it have to be destroyed if you don't move it? If so, take a chance.
Late fall is a good time to try to move it. The idea is to dig a trench around the tree about 2 feet deep. Then work your spade under the ball until it's loose. Pro's will wrap burlap tightly around the ball at this point. If it's only getting moved a short distance, you might be able to work a tarp under the ball and move it that way. This all depends on the soil type.
There is a guy that came to our nursery and offered to ball up some 7 or 8 foot tall pines for like $15 each. He did it by hand and could pump out 3 or 4 an hour, what a machine.
If you make the ball too small, the tree dies. If you make it too big, you can't move it.

 

[a_lopa]

go around the edge of the root ball with a shovel breaking the small roots,leave tree to sit keep the water up to it wait a few weeks then the small roots will be there and get under the rootball and lift out.

 

[Elmore]

Nurseries that grow trees for transplanting usually do regular root pruning years in advance to force the tree to grow a more compact root system.Dan

I would bet that very few nurseries do this. I agree that if it's not transplanted soon that it should be root pruned in preparation for a future dig...for best results. Good luck and water the heck out of it once transplanted.