Tree Transplanting: Cutting Tree Roots Without Killing A Tree

Farming / Gardening

Tree transplanting takes much more time and expertise than your typical tree care duties.

Why? Well, transplanting requires tampering with tree roots. Sprawling roots have lots of responsibilities—like anchoring a tree in place, transporting water and storing nutrients. That’s why cutting roots before transplanting can do some serious damage, and in the worst case, even kill a tree.

Before you attempt to prune roots on your own, read below to learn how to keep your tree as safe as possible in the process.

Root prep before tree transplanting

The transplanting process starts with tree root pruning. Trees can’t keep all of their roots in the move, so your task is to prune roots to establish a new root ball, which will eventually be transported to the new planting site.

How to prune roots before transplanting

Before diving in, take these steps:

Measure the diameter of your tree by wrapping a measuring tape around the tree, four feet from the tree’s base. Then, divide that number by 3.14. Generally, you can safely prune roots that are 3-5 times the diameter away from your tree. So, if your tree has a diameter of 3 feet, only cut tree roots 9-15 feet away from the tree.
Decide on the best next step. For your safety and for the health of your tree, you should avoid cutting tree roots if a) the roots are thicker than 2 inches wide, or b) the tree is more than 2 inches in diameter.
The best time to prune roots of a tree to be transplanted depends on whether you are moving it in spring or in fall. Those which will be transplanted in fall (October-November) should be pruned in summer after leaf-out. If Spring planting is desired (March-April) then root pruning should take place in late fall-early winter. Depending on tree type 6 months is usually the optimum wait time between root pruning and transplanting.

Now, here's how to cut tree roots:

Determine the size of the new root ball. It should be 10 to 12 inches for each inch of trunk diameter.
Mark a circle around the tree that’s the width of the new root ball.
At least 24 hours before cutting roots, water the soil.
With a sharp spade, use the circle as a guide to cut into tree roots, going about a foot deep.

How to remove tree roots from the ground for transplanting

When it’s time to transplant, take a shovel about 5 inches outside of the circle you made for your new root ball. Then, dig around the root ball about 1 or 2 feet deep, and cut under the roots to lift the ball.

Will cutting the roots kill my tree?

Quite a few factors determine whether or not your tree will survive root pruning, like its age, its overall health or how many roots you prune. Transplanting comes with risks, and there are no guarantee trees won’t suffer damage. But the best way to avoid a fatal cut is following best practices, including only transplanting small trees, doing the job at the right time of year, and not cutting too many roots. Perhaps the most important best practice: call an arborist if you’re not completely comfortable pruning roots on your own.

How many tree roots can I cut?

Unfortunately, there is no good rule of thumb for how many tree roots you can cut because every root system is different.

Will cut tree roots grow back?

Only time will tell. If the roots are cut clean, they could regenerate new ones.

Root prep before planting the relocated tree

Once you have a root ball ready to be placed in its new home, what’s next? Do you break up the root ball when planting?

Nope! In fact, you should do absolutely everything you can to keep the root ball together. To do that, make sure you have a large piece of burlap on hand when you’re about to lift the tree. Gently roll the root ball onto the burlap, tie it up, and carefully transport the tree.

How long does it take for a transplanted tree to root?

On the low end, it will be a year before your tree starts to grow again after transplanting. But often, trees need even more time than that. Some trees take 2, 3 or up to 5 years to fully recover from transplanting.

Source

in selfrelianceby LIS1050010Laconic Mod

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30d

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WilcoHistBuff

Farmer

30d

Former tree farmer of nursery stock guy here!

I know this is a self reliance sub, but there was one important omission from your source material as well as some other important concerns worth mentioning:

In the “Before you dive in section” point number 2, Davey Tree suggests that if you are moving a tree with over a 2 inch trunk diameter or roots exceeding 2 inches that you should consult an arborist. At the very least you should consult expert literature based on tree type. Several concerns:

—Transplanting a conifer, deciduous shade tree, orchard tree, ornamental etc all involve different considerations on radius of root cut, root ball shape, or how wide or deep the root ball should be.

—Once you get up to a two inch trunk size (2 ft diameter root ball) you can be talking about moving 400-600 lbs of tree which is kind of the limit for two strapping teenagers. Once you get to this limit employment of front loaders on small tractors or mechanical tree spades starts making sense.

—Some species of tree are just not going to take cuts of two inch roots well and that may mean either cautiously digging out extended thick roots further than the root ball leaving roots bare which then means rapidly replanting and keeping roots moist.

—Once you get to this size going for a conical “root ball” like you get from either an non-mechanical or mechanical tree spade with a wider diameter at the top can make better sense than a spherical root ball. Trees with tap roots will all ways do better with either a conical root ball or will need deeper digging than indicated in the source material.

Other considerations:

—The faster you get a tree replanted the better, and if you are talking days, weeks, months between extraction and replanting that means prepping for temporary storage like imbedding in a big mulch mound for longer terms or making sure the root ball is properly wrapped and kept hydrated (but not over hydrated). This is a big topic on its own.

—Properly prepping the new location is crucial and this can be a matter of hours, days, weeks or months:

—If you are transplanting to quality soil of similar composition nothing beats the ease of using a tree spade to cut the hole for the new location, dump that soil near the old tree location and then move the tree to the new location with a ready made hole of exactly the same size. However, it’s always a good idea dig and cut into the walls of the new hole in an irregular pattern if you have heavy clay soils to provide pathways for new root growth. You see this in tree nurseries with high quality soil all the time.

—Much more frequently in DIY settings it’s a good idea to dig a square hole twice as wide as the root ball and take the soil removed, mix it 1-2 Parts compost to 10 Parts native soil, wet it to 60% humidity and cover for use in backfill.

—In challenging conditions like desert or arid or poor soil conditions digging the new hole 3-4 months in advance, mixing native soil with 2-3 parts compost to 10 parts native soil and piling it all back into the hole to rest and rot down for a few months is a good idea.

—Chopping up the face of any transplant hole is always a good idea.

—If you have crappy or non existent Mycorrhizal life in your new location soil it’s not a bad idea to supplement with mycorrhizal additives (either from bought supplements or (better) from your native soils.

Clean cuts: Use sharp clean tools. Regularly sanitizing tools with alcohol or hot soapy water between plants (or at least after a day of tool use) is never a bad idea. (Not related to this exact topic, but when pruning diseased trees and shrubs this is critical.)
Pay attention to adjacent plants from where you remove a tree: It is super common to move plants from places where they are crowded by other plants. The plants you leave behind may have roots intertwined with the plant you are removing. Getting those roots covers back with earth quickly is an important objective. This can mean staging soil for backfill before you start digging and removing a plant.
Leave yourself the time to get the work done and make sure you have the labor or equipment to get the work done. Dirt is heavy, trees can be heavy, and properly removing a tree for transplant is a combination of painstaking work and extreme back labor. Planning is key. If doing this the first time leave yourself 2-3 times the time you think you will need.