Moving Plants of All Sizes: A Winter Garden Task

Winter, when plants are dormant, is the ideal time to move plants, although they can be successfully moved at any time throughout the year provided care is taken. Smaller plants, under three feet high, are the easiest to move. Here are some tips to moving a small plant or shrub to a new location in your garden:

1. The first step is to trim the plant or shrub back by about one third.
2. The next step is to dig the plant out ensuring that the root ball is approximately the same diameter as the plant.
3. The plant can then be transplanted to the new position in the garden. (See below for details on the final steps for placing the transplant.)

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The procedure with bigger plants in the 3-foot to 5-foot range is much the same but will take a little more time.

For Step 2, once you have dug around the plant to a depth of approximately 1 to 1 1/2 feet, you should leave it for a week before finishing the removal. After a week ease the plant out by digging under the roots and trim off long or damaged roots before transplanting.

For bigger plants and trees the procedure gets a little more involved.

1. The first step is to dig down deeply on two sides of the plant, through the roots at the drip line.
2. The plant should then be left for a week or two before the same procedure is repeated on the other two sides of the plant.
3. As with the smaller plants you will need to trim the plant back by about one third before starting.
4. After having dug around all sides of the plant you should wait another couple of weeks before digging under the roots.
5. Again, you will need to trim off long or damaged roots in preparation for the transplant.
6. Let another week or two pass before removing the plant and wrapping the root ball with Hessian cloth to protect the roots.

Placing & setting the transplant:
1. You should have already prepared a new hole that will be slightly bigger than the root ball of the plant you are replacing.
2. Add compost, mix and slow release fertilizer before transplanting the plant.
3. Top up the soil and water it well.

Provided you have taken good care along the way your plant should settle in to its new location without any problems.