Moving a tree, what are the limitations?

[Swampster]

Tree makes sea voyage for Georgia park project - BBC News

 

Whatever floats your boat...... (sorry, that is terrible)

[Goaty]

Nutter. Pointless waste of money is my view.

 

A lot of satisfaction and pleasure is in the nurturing and watching them grow.

 

Good thing it creates employment.

 

I'm not against moving semi mature trees, this though is extreme .

[Ruskins Trees]

The limitations tend to be the lack of budget often compounded by lack of timescale to prepare.

 

Not forgetting not gaining the permission of the Local Authority!

 

Otherwise any size of Tree can be moved (other than Eucalypts and Monkey Puzzles).

[Gary Prentice]

Why not monkey puzzles?

 

I moved a semi-mature one ( 300dbh) for a new garage to be built.

 

We put irrigation pipe work in and initially it looked promising. After twelve months it declined but it turned out the builders were watering it by putting a hose pipe in all day, three or four days a week.

 

I wondered how successful it might have been otherwise.

[Kveldssanger]

...it turned out the builders were watering it by putting a hose pipe in all day, three or four days a week...

 

Wat....

[Gary Prentice]

Wat....

 

We sometimes assume, mistakenly, a level of knowledge or degree of common sense in others.

 

 

With hindsight, I should have written a specification for when and how much to irrigate, or taken that on myself. I assumed that 'water it when it needs it' was adequate instruction.

[Treemover]

Limitations?

 

I'd agree with Ruskins; Time and money are both components that are hugely underestimated by clients or their advisers.

 

I find that the limitation isn't so much physical, or the process of getting the tree in and out, but more obstacles along the route, especially if your moving a large tree down the main road.

 

Is there a place for moving large mature trees? I would say def yes.

I dont think it will become a very common practice, but placing a beautiful tree in a location where it can be noticed or moving it from a location where otherwise it would be compromised by construction to a place where the tree can continue to grow and be appreciated certainly has its place.

 

I'm not totally sure about the story on the BBC blog, ie the entire details; but I would not be against the process itself, however I would not agree that a wealthy individual should be allowed to relocate trees from a public space to their own residence.

 

I had a client once that had brought back a Giant Sequoia as a sapling in their washbag, while visiting the states some 40 years previous. They sold the property (got 8 million for it) and the client said the tree had huge sentimental value.

 

They wanted to take it with them, only problem was they had not yet bought another property, so this was looking like a double move situation. In the end, I advised the client to just purchase a replacement tree, but I thought the tree in question had a fantastic story to tell, much how the explores brought back present specimens!