Transplanting 3-5 ft Spruce

[West Branch]

My brother has some conifers that he wants to get rid to expand a field. I think they are white spruce planted 6-7 years ago. They did poorly because of drought, had limited survival and hardly grew until the last two years. Now he wants to get rid of them and connect an old pasture to an existing field. Haven't done a count but there could be as many as 30 trees. Anyone ever done this?

A few years ago we transplanted some <2 ft tall spruce using shovels and they did ok. I am thinking shovels may not be big enough for these larger trees. Think something like this would work?
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200356534_200356534

I have access to a skid steer with various attachments. We already have a manure bucket which might work too. The one we have has more tines that are closer together than the one in the pictures here:
http://www.skidsteersolutions.com/s...kets/manure-buckets/ffc-manure-rod-bucket-66/

Tomorrow I should be able to get out there and look them over and maybe I'll have shovel with and try one or two and see how it goes.

 

[West Branch]

Another thought is that I would probably want to get this done in the early spring or in the fall when dormant?

The ones we did two years ago were on Memorial day weekend and I think we had about 8 of 12 survive through this past winter.

 

[Buckly]

The problem with bigger trees is water. They need a lot, and you would need to be able to water them frequently to get established. Small spruce of plug size require much less and will adapt quicker. I planted 20 five footers once years ago and they needed watering every other day.

 

[John-W-WI]

You could move them with something like this:
http://www.spartanequipment.com/products/Skid-Steer-Tree-Spade-Digger-Attachment-36"-Ball.html

(not saying it's the best price, seems high, just a quick google search turned this up. I have one like it)

Unlike deciduous trees, don't move evergreens in the fall. Move them in the spring before they wake up.

-John

 

[sandbur]

West Branch-if it were me, I would just plant some spruce plugs in the new location. It would be more time and work than I would want to put in. The watering would be very time intensive.

 

[tooln]

I've dug up and transplanted white pine up to 5' tall with good luck. But they need LOTS of water.

 

[West Branch]

I went through the area on Saturday and I think I need to convince my brother to leave it. It ends up being just under 3 acres total and there are way more spruce and red pines that survived than we initially thought. The area is thick with tall weeds and grass and some brush (mainly willow) is coming up in parts. There are also a couple big bur oak trees in the wider part. The red outlined area has the spruce and pines, its just about 400 yards east to west. The area on the south side of the outlined has been cow pasture that he wants to turn into field.





I think he should turn the pasture into field but leave the current screening and add norway and white spruce for additional screening where I drew the green line. The bottom area near the road where I curved the line is very wet, currently has willow, alders and ROD in the area. Could end up being a nice pocket of cover I think. This whole area gets a decent amount of deer traffic but mainly at night, screening should improve that in the long term I think.