Moving fruit trees

[kingandy2nd]

Hello all,

We're about to move house and my other half gets all stupid and nostalgic about not wanting to leave things behind when we go. This stupidity has now extended to her wanting to keep 2 fruit trees we planted in the garden 6 years ago.

One is an apple tree and the other is a pear, and although they only cost a tenner each from B&Q they've grown well and produce fruit every year. The apple tree is around 10 feet tall now, and the pear tree about 13 feet.

I think that we're more likely to kill the trees by trying to dig them up and move them, but my girlfriend is insistent that she would rather take the risk than leave them.

Can anyone provide guidance as to whether the trees could be move without killing them, and if so, roughly how much digging am I going to have to do to get the roots out?

Cheers
Andy

 

[Mursal]

You have a good chance of success, but there is a small chance you will loose them. How will the new people respond?

Wait until the autumn/winter when the leaves are dead and the tree is dormant and leave as much of the root stock attached as possible. A large plastic sheet will be handy to tie around the soil/roots.

Don't leave out of the ground to long and water in well. A good stake will be essential. or even two with a cross bar.

Oh and if you haven't the interest in doing it, they will probably die, as its all in the detail

 

[kingandy2nd]

Thanks for that.

The new people will be fine as we're going to be renting the house out once we move so the new tenants won't know there were trees there.

If I do it, I will do it properly so no worries there.

Any idea what the root spread will be on trees that height?

Ta.

 

[Mursal]

Take as much topsoil with the tree as you can. The idea would be to fool it into "thinking" it never moved.
But on a practical level you will have to limit it to a meter from the base and see if you hit much. Any bigger will weight to much to move manually. If you don't hit anything substantial, move in a bit
Prune the new growth back well beforehand, to make things easier.

I couldn't find a manual move

 

[ntb]

As a general rule, roots can extend out roughly as far as a tree is high. When you move it, unless it's a sapling you will inevitably lose a good proportion of the fine roots. Thus, the rootball needs to be as large as possible.

Normally this would be done when the tree is dormant because losing roots makes it harder for the tree to take up the water it needs in the growing season. If it is still in leaf it is often neccessary to prune hard to reduce the amount of leaves transpiring and obviously, it will need to be kept watered for a few months when replanted.

If I were you I'd give your GF a spade and tell her to get on with it...