How to Transplant Trees - Landscape Tip

Andy Robinson: Hi! I’m Andy Robinson, the Landscape Renovator. We’re at Bob’s house. I’m doing Bob’s weeding for him to get ready for our plantings and Bob doesn’t mind it. Bob: Not at all. Andy Robinson: Do you? Bob: No. Andy Robinson: But we have this crepe myrtle in the corner here we left. We actually wanted to move it when we had a chance, when we start in the planting. So, what I’m going to do is talk to you and show you how to actually go ahead and transplant this. Now, there are good—there are plants that are really good to transplant and there’s a lot of plants that aren’t. The plants that are really bad are the ones that have a root string in root system, hibiscus, India Hawthorne, podocarpis. I mean there are some other plants that you just plow and it’s like no root on them. The crepe myrtle is awesome to transplant. We’ve moved these things in the middle of the summer, 12 foot by 12 foot, get a little foliage burn but it comes right back. So, what were going to do is we got to look at the size of the tree here and were going to come around it well maybe about a foot out from the trunk. I’m going to go straight down and make these cuts. You can hear the roots. You keep going straight down you’re not pulling back on the shovel. So, what we’ve done is made a nice ring around it. Then what we’re going to is come on the outside of that now and dig that up, make like a mote. Bob. Bob: Yeah. Andy Robinson: Do you sweat when you take a—do filming and directing stuff? Bob: No, because I never work this hard. Andy Robinson: Now, what we’re going to do is we’re going to wet the root ball and around the bottom of the root ball. Bob: And what’s the point of wetting that? Andy Robinson: Well, we just want to make like a—here at the beach making a sand castle, if you try to pull your bucket of dry sand which is going to fall apart. So, we’re going to make it wet and try to hold it together, not much wetting. Bob: No, you need to work a little harder. Andy Robinson: Okay, shut the water off please, thank you. Now Bob, what I’m going to show you is that believe it or not, it’s hard for people to understand is that—in the top 18 inches soil is where 80% of your root system is. That’s where your oxygen is and the plant needs oxygen like I do. If you’re digging that hole to be able to take up nutrients, water, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and all the minor nutrients the plant needs to live. So, one of the things that we’re going to do is we go through here at the top and not probably six to eight inches on this crepe myrtle the most important. And as we get a little bit further down there will be less roots. We got to water in there. But what are we going to do now is go and start cutting the roots under the tree. You see it’s gotten a little bit loose. I’ll get a help here. Hey, can I get a little help over here. Wow, this much like work. Bob: Yeah. Andy Robinson: We’re going back there, is that where you want it Bob? Bob doesn’t know, we’re going to go put it where I want to put it. Bob: There you go. Andy Robinson: I think we’re going to put it in the backyard Bob. Bob: Okay, I like that.