Storing Plants for later use

I wonder if anyone can advise me what to do. I am having a house built but it not going to be ready until late September, we have sold our old place and we wil be living on the site until the new place is completed. We have loads of climbers, shrubs, small young trees and fruit bushes all have been planted less than 18 months ago, what we'd like to do is dig them up and put them in pots, to later replant in the new garden, as we'll be on site we can care for them as often as they need but has anyone got any advice ot tips to keep them thriving and alive until we can replant?

 

Be careful that you have made clear to the vendors that your house sale excludes the plants you want to take with you . I do hope you are not intending to strip the garden before you move

Its not the best time of year to lift and containerise plants, shrubs and trees, even if young - and you may lose some. You got a couple of choices - if your planning to plant them soon after you move in, then leave lifting them til as late as possible. If your going to wait for a while before planting lift them and settle them in containers now.

General guidance to give them the best chance - water well before lifting, and lift as much of the root ball intact as you can. Plant into containers that are bigger than the rootball, and for preference I would plant into a mixture of compost, vermiculite and slow release fertiliser. Keep them watered til your ready to plant them - and supported against wind rock. Plant them out in autumn or winter (where the weather is mild) depending on the plants so that they can extablish before the spring- and water well in.

 

Exactly as above, worth repeating the need to water, as this time of year theyl be under stress.

 

To be honest is it really worth all of the effort you will need to put in to this not just the digging up and planting in pots but the transporting to i mean your haveing a brand new house why not have brand new plants to but if your set on moveing them i cant add anything to the great advice allready posted

 

Thanks all, yes it is a lot of trouble but the vendors have said they are planning to turn the house and barn into 3 houses for letting and are going to :eek: rip up the garden to allow parking and small patio areas, so I though it's such a waste to see them all scooped up in the digger and sad too as we have worked so hard to get it to look this good:( When I said about the plants to him he said, take them if you want so I am :D:thumb:

 

I moved from Italy to Germany in February and carried a truckful and a carful of plants from my old garden. I drove 1000 km in a Micra full to the roof with plants, a huge H. paniculata "Pinky Winky" on the passenger seat. If you manage, take anything you can with you, it's a lot of trouble, but worth it.

 

We moved in July last year and took a number of plants with us but not the established shrubs since it was too much hard work and we were moving to a smaller garden. You should have little trouble if you folow the methods reccomended.
Good luck in your new house...........

 

i was waiting to move from september till november last year so i put all my plants in pots and here we are in june and the last ones went in the ground yesterday,
any chance you give them is better than than skip and if you keep your eye on them they stand a good chance

 

If you are moving large shrubs the roots will inevitably be damaged to some degree, when you dig them up, and so not able to supply as much water to the leaves as normal. I would suggest pruning back the top growth to help lessen the need of the plant for water.
Fran suggests putting them back in the ground in the autumn, which is the usual time to plant a lot of things, but I think I would put them straight back in the ground asap to lessen the stress on them.

 

Thanks so much for the advice, looking forward to planning the new garden from scratch

 

good luck :thumb: