How to Transplant a Tree

If you’re doing any kind of landscaping in your yard, you’ll likely have to learn how to move a tree. When Brian Holden and his wife, Tara, purchased a home, they found a beautiful, 10-foot-tall dogwood tree in bloom. The problem is the tree was planted too close to the house and had to be moved.

“We made the decision while it was young to transplant it away from the house so it would not have to be cut down later,” says Holden, director of client services for the Grand Entrance Group landscaping firm, in Raleigh, North Carolina. “With proper timing and attention, the move performed in the fall of that year was successful, and we enjoyed that tree and its flowers every spring.”

Understanding the Benefits of Transplanting Trees

The Holdens needed to move their tree to protect their home. You may choose to replant trees to match your landscaping or enhance your property value. Transplanting can also be in the best interest of the tree itself, promoting healthier growth and letting it thrive.

Tools and Materials Needed for Transplanting

While transplanting a tree isn’t something you do every day, you probably already have the tools you need. These include goggles and gardening gloves, a spade or shovel, and some soil amendments, which you’ll learn about below.

How to Replant a Tree, Step-by-Step

The process of moving a tree begins long before the day of the dig and continues well after. This work will help ease the tree’s transition and reduce transplant shock.

Step 1. Choose the best time of year.

The best time of year for transplanting a tree is during that tree’s dormant season.

“For deciduous trees, like the dogwood mentioned above, this would be either early spring, prior to the leaves emerging, or fall, after the leaves have fallen and the tree has entered dormancy,” Holden says.

“Evergreens can be dug just about any time of year unless they are pushing new growth,” says Andrea Wilson Mueller, Certified Professional Landscape Designer (CPLD), Association of Professional Landscape Designers Fellow (FAPLD).

Step 2. Prepare the tree.

Start by root pruning a few seasons ahead, while the tree is dormant. Dig a spade or shovel through the soil to sever the roots and encourage the tree to send out small feeder roots. This starts the process of digging up the rootball. Use this calculation to determine how far from the tree to dig: Measure the diameter of the tree in inches, and multiply by 12. For a tree with a 3-inch diameter, such as Holden’s dogwood, root prune at least 36 inches away from the tree.

Leading up to transplanting day, keep the tree well watered. Wilson Mueller also likes to spray the tree with Wilt-Pruf to help the tree’s foliage retain moisture.

Step 3. Prepare the new hole.

Dig a transplanting hole twice the size of the rootball. Keep the hole watered for a week before moving the tree. Wilson Mueller, owner of Inside Out Landscape Design, in Frankfort, Kentucky, also adds a mycorrhizal fungi soil inoculant to the planting hole to help the roots get established.

Step 4. Dig and place the tree.

Now finish the job you started with root pruning. Dig again around the sides of the tree, down several feet. Then dig under the tree to sever the roots below.

Wilson Mueller suggests wrapping the tree in burlap to transfer the tree to its new space. This prevents the rootball from drying out.

Step 5. Settle in the tree.

Remove the burlap, and place the tree in the new hole with the top of the rootball level with the soil surface. Holden suggests mixing the soil removed from the hole with compost to refill the hole. Water the tree well.

Best Practices for Tree Transplanting Aftercare

With your tree in its new location, your job is to help it get established. This looks like:

Mulching

On top of the planting area, Holden adds a 2- to 3-inch layer of shredded hardwood mulch to retain soil moisture. Be careful to keep mulch a few inches away from the trunk.

Staking

Holden places two or three stakes about 24 inches from the tree trunk, pitched slightly away from the trunk. To these, he attaches Arbortie as guy lines for the tree. Remove the stakes and ties after about a year.

Watering

Both Holden and Wilson Mueller stress the importance of keeping the transplanted tree watered. Holden also recommends Tree Diapers, which absorb rain and irrigation water and slowly release the moisture back into the soil.

Monitoring

Keep watch for signs of transplant shock. This could look like leaf drop and stunted growth. In its weakened state, trees are more susceptible to pests and disease. Preparing the tree properly for transplanting, providing an inoculant to help its roots take hold, and keeping it watered will go a long way in reducing transplant shock.

Whether you replant a tree for aesthetic reasons or practical ones, what you’ve learned in this article will help you do it properly.