| Early spring is a great time for transplanting trees | | | | diameter of the stem of a tree is 2", then you |
| and shrubs, but you must do so before they | | | | should dig a root ball 24" in diameter. |
| wake up. Transplanting a plant is a very traumatic | | | | Don't be afraid of cutting a few roots when you |
| experience for the plant if it is awake. It's like | | | | transplant. Just try not to cut them any shorter |
| doing surgery on a person while they are awake. | | | | than the above guidelines allow. Cutting the roots |
| Dormancy starts in the fall as soon as you | | | | will actually help to reinvigorate the plant. It's a |
| experience a good hard freeze, and the plants | | | | process simply known as root pruning. When the |
| remain dormant until the weather warms up in | | | | roots are severed, the plant then develops lateral |
| the spring. This is when you should transplant, | | | | roots to make up for what is lost. These lateral |
| while the plants are dormant. | | | | roots are more fibrous in nature, and have more |
| You can transplant in the spring up until the plants | | | | ability to pick up water and nutrients. |
| leaf out. When the buds are green and swollen | | | | Some nurseries drive tractors over the plants in |
| you are usually safe to still transplant, but once | | | | the field with a device that undercuts the roots of |
| the leaf develops, you should wait until fall. When | | | | the plant just to force the plant to develop more |
| transplanting you can dig the shrubs out bare | | | | fibrous roots. This makes transplanting the plant |
| root, just make sure they are out of the ground | | | | the following year much more successful, and |
| for as short a time as possible, and keep the | | | | makes for a stronger and healthier plant. |
| roots damp while out of the ground. | | | | The old timers root pruned by hand by forcing a |
| Make sure there are no air pockets around the | | | | spade in the ground around their plants. If you |
| roots when you replant them. When possible, it is | | | | have a plant in your landscape that is doing poorly, |
| always better to dig a ball of earth with the plants | | | | a little root pruning while the plant is dormant |
| when you transplant them. The rule of thumb is | | | | could bring it around. It's worth the effort. |
| 12" of root ball for every 1" of stem caliper. If the | | | | |