I have this Japanese maple tree, it is about 6 feet in height. If I Were to dig it out to move it, how big are the roots usually? i also posted it online and got a ton of interest for it and people willing to dig it out, what’s it worth?
Im either going to move it or if its to hard i will sell it to someone willing to dig it out, thank you
by Aromatic_Topic_1074
17 Comments
You’ll probably will have to dig up the rocks and surrounding concrete. If your house is a slab foundation there is a good chance the roots are under the slab. You have roots at least 4 to 6 feet out away from the trunk.
Don’t transplant a Japanese maple until it goes dormant ([Link](https://mrmaple.com/pages/tips-for-transplanting-japanese-maples)). Usually in Fall or early Spring. That maple is not only rather big but also far from dormancy.
Velly hard
Very
If the contractor has an excavator or backhoe it might be doable. I would heavily prune then dig hole in new location and then dig as much root ball as possible with the excavator. Then move it to new hole backfill and water heavily for a couple of weeks.
It will probably survive with a lot of care.
I had to move a similar sized maple in early summer also, new septic leach line. I dug it up and put in a large cheap pot with the attitude if it lived great if it didn’t at least I tried. It ultimately survived not without losing some limbs and two years later I moved it into its permanent spot and it’s doing great.
I’m not an experienced gardener.
It will be very difficult. You have to cut the roots out at the drip line and at least 1.5 ft down. Getting down under it with that concrete ask around it is going to be near impossible. That’s going to give you a root ball that weighs around 400 lbs that has to be lifted out and moved to its new site. I agree with The _Poster _Nutbag.
FOFO
Someone willing to dig it out? I would take that offer.
I’m no expert but had asked a tree guy about moving a diff type of tree and he suggested about a month before moving cut down into the root area …. This will sever some roots. The others should keep the tree going. The severed one will start to send out new small ones and that might make transplanting more successful. Good luck.
This would be an epic start for a bonsai project. Try posting on r/bonsai and you’ll probably get more helpful replies. People there do things landscapers and arborists would faint at.
Good luck. Maybe soak the heck out of the soil and use a strap and excavator.
I’ll suggest you hire an experienced arborist to do the job
Those roots run deep. Transplanting will be hard with a decent chance of not working.
I did two of these in the middle of July in Oregon last year. The root ball was about half the radius of the canopy. I was given them after being dug up so no choice in the digging but they were free. One dropped half its leaves shortly after, the other never dropped any. They are both [thriving](https://drive.google.com/file/d/15ZArJizXhcOI8Szxz0ZLkxV2DvMp0z8c/view?usp=drivesdk) this spring (except the freaking deer picked one clean of new leaves). I watered them heavily the first 6-8 weeks then our rains picked up.
If it’s this or cut it down, I would give it a shot. Dig as much of the root ball as you can move and water throughout the spring/summer when there’s any gap in rain.
I would think there is a tree sub of tree nerds that has the answer.
Ain’t no way bro