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AR15.COM
10/15/2006 7:47:44 PM EDT
I have a river birch about 10 ft tall with a trunk diameter of about 4 inches that i want to move so i start digging and find a root about 2 inches in diameter sticking straight out from the base with all the other visible roots small as i would have expected. I stopped the excavation when i found the big root (shut up) Is moving the tree dangerous? Can i cut this root or should i dig up the whole root and move it too?
10/16/2006 2:25:35 AM EDT
[#1]
The good news is that yes, you can transplant it.  The bad news is that you should have a huge rootball if you want it to live.  You want to make sure you include roughly 2/3 of the roots with the rootball - that will probably be something like 48" to 60" dia., at a minumum.  Do you have access to a tractor?  That's pretty heavy.  More good news is that you don't have to go that deep - 18" should do it.