Every fall and spring, thousands of native trees are dug from our woods for transplanting to home grounds. Usually, this effort is wasted.
The trees seldom withstand the shock of poor digging, improper transportation, and lack of proper planting and care.
Other causes of failure include:
- Selection of kinds of trees that are difficult to transplant
- Selection of trees that are too large or are too small and stunted
- Diseased or insect-infested
Late spring transplanting after the trees have leafed out lessens their chance of ever leafing out again.
After trees have shed their foliage, the shock and “pain” of transplanting will be minimal.
Various Native Trees That Transplant Readily
Select native tree kinds that transplant readily. It is better not to select shade tree types larger than 2” inches in diameter.
The usually selected shade trees are:
- American elm
- Sugar maple
- Soft maple
- Green ash
- White ash
- Hackberry
- Pin oak
Choose stocky, thrifty trees in the open or at the edge of the thicket.
Trees that are usually very difficult to transplant successfully are walnuts, hickories, and pecans.
Choose small plants about a foot high if you wish to try these.
Redbuds 3’ to 4’ feet high usually move easily. Wild crab apple and hawthorn are more difficult.
Flowering dogwood should be handled very carefully in small sizes only.
The short-leaf pine (Pinus echinata), the only native pine in Missouri, is tough to transplant, but the native red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) moves easily if properly handled.
How To Properly Move Native Trees
In moving native trees, here’s what you need to do:
- Dig them carefully to get as many roots as possible.
- Leave as much soil on the roots as you can.
- Cover roots with wet burlap sacks.
- Tie trees in bundles, place moist peat moss or wet straw about the roots and cover tightly with canvas or paper while in transportation.
Proper Planting Methods
Here’s how to plant native trees after moving:
- Dig holes large enough to suit the trees.
- Prune about half the twig growth from small trees or more if the scarcity of roots demands it.
- Prune larger elms and sugar maples severely by topping back and cutting most of the side branches back to the main stem (this is the “pruning to a pole” method which is the main secret in transplanting larger native trees).
After planting, the trees should be staked and watered, and they should receive careful attention during the summer.
Finish planting spring flowering bulbs soon, before rainy weather or freezing temperatures make the job unpleasant.
If bulbs have not yet arrived, the beds where they are to go should be mulched with leaves to keep the ground from freezing until planting is done.
Planting Dutch Iris
Hardy Dutch iris bulbs may be planted now. However, they should be set late enough each season so that no top growth will appear before freezing weather.
Late top growth usually means blighted flowers. Therefore, in late spring, after blooming, the bulbs should be dug, sorted, and stored until late fall, when they may be reset.
Two good blue varieties are ‘Imperator’ and ‘Wedgewood.’
Inspect shrubs and trees for the presence of pests. For example, bagworm cases should be pulled off and destroyed.
White, frothy-appearing egg masses are probably those of the white-marked tussock moth and should be removed and squashed.
If the tent caterpillar attacked the wild cherry tree last spring, examine small twigs for elongated, encircling egg masses of the overwintering pest and destroy them.
The 2- to 3-inch brown pointed cocoons sealed tightly to twigs of Bechtel’s crab apple, lilacs, soft maple, or birch contain resting pupae of the beautiful Cecropia moth.
This insect is usually more of a novelty than a pest.
However, if you are a little “buggy” and like to study them (as I do), take a few cocoons into the house where the moths will emerge during the winter, showing their 4-inch, gorgeous-colored wings.
The light-colored 1 ¼” inch capsule-shaped cocoons dangling from the tips of branches on the white birch belong to the Polyphemus moth, another large, beautiful moth that is comparatively rare in these parts.
44659 by Stanley R. Mclane