moving my japanese acer

Hi Everyone,

Hope some one can help me. My husband and I are about to move house, and I want to take my Japanese acer with me, (my youngest son brought it me for mothers day about 12yrs ago). It stands about 2ft 6ins height and has a span of about 6ft. I would like to keep it in a large pot when we move as my current garden has the dreaded Mares Tail and I don't want to take it too my new garden. My husband says it won't survive, and this is upsetting me, as it is a magnificant plant. I would be glad to here you veiws

 

Im no means an expert, but i moved mine, granted it was from one hole into another 3ft away. I got as much as the root as i could, and the chucked in the new hole the soil it had been growing in and re-planted it and it seems to be fine. i moved mine however, when there was were no leaves on it (its about 4ft tall), it was about february early march time. So im not sure but just wanted to let you know mine has been moved and is fine. hope that helps any xxx

edited to say: is it in a pot? could you not just move it in the pot to the new place??

 

Not grown any Jap maples but I tend to think your likely to kill it, moving a shrub thats been growing in the same place for 12yrs is a bit hit and miss.
Especially if you try moving it now, when its just come into growth.

 

Well, if you're moving house, you might as well try.
They can be temperamental. We lost the smaller one of our two a few years ago for no reason at all that we could deduce, at that size they don't come cheap and you'll need a pretty big pot if you're going to keep it happy. If you wanted to pick a bad time to move it....

But if you must, do it now while it's still in the same environment and you can keep an eye on it. With the "post event" trauma of a house move, such things can get neglected.

 

I think that if you try to move this tree at this time of year you will almost certainly kill it stone dead
Do it a favour and let it live on where it is.
Buy yourself another one for your new home

 

Hello Irene. That sounds like a beautiful acer you have there and it will be into leaf by now. If it spans 6 feet the root run is likely to be as big.
I'm sorry to agree with your husband but I think if you start digging it up it will be doomed. Why not let it live on where it is and you can remember it fondly. Buy a new one for your new home.
Hope the move goes well and you are very happy in your new home.

 

Why not come to an arrangement with the new owner of your house for you to return when it's dormant and dig it up and move it then?

 

I personally still think it would not make it.

To move a plant that well established is a massive task, if you are to remove a large enough root ball for it to survive.

 

It depends, I moved this acer in the autumn about 15 years ago when it was about eight feet tall from the back garden to the front. It's done very well. But maybe I was lucky.

 

If you must you must.

With a sharp spade cut down vertically about one foot radius around the trunk.

Next dig out the soil around the outside of that soil about one foot deep.

Then with your sharp shovel undercut the roots of the inner circle. You now have a root ball.

gat a couple of sheets, not plastic, and manourve the sheets under the rootball as gently as possible. Tie the sheets to hold the rootball together.

Lift the rootball into a plastic pot.

Water well , and keep spraying the leaves with water. keep in shade.

Move house

keep watering and in dappled shade and spray with water at least once a day, more in hot weather.

Good luck and you will need several strong men.

PS. This is the most important. Move house again and dont buy a house with mares tail

 

hehehe
And a specialist removal team
The cost would be more than the cost of a new tree

 

but its not about a new tree is it

 

Cost of a new tree?

It's taken me twenty years to get this one to this size and shape (it gets a trim each year).
Ben't Garden Centre wanted £3,000 for one marginally larger and nowhere near as nicely shaped.

 

I didn't mean a new tree of the same maturity ... I would have thought that to be obvious
My main point is that trying to move the existing tree would no doubt be fatal

 

Sorry, from your post it wasn't obvious.
I've always assumed the plant was of a reasonable size and worth an attempted move. Or this discussion wouldn't have been worth starting. I think that was pretty "obvious."