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nrgraham22

moving weeping mulberry

19 years ago

Hi All,

Any recommendations about moving a weeping mulberry tree? We are adding a deck onto the house, and it is right on the edge of the construction site. It's been in the ground more than 5 years, since that's when we moved in and it was already here. Zone 4, Vermont, and it's a sterile or male one- no mulberry fruit. I love it though- it's a beautiful tree. It's about 5-6 feet tall and happy as a clam. maybe 2 in diam for the trunk? It is also leaning about a 45 degree angle- can we try to plant it more upright then that when transplanting, do you think?

nancy

Comments (2)

  • 19 years ago

    i dont see why you cant plant it upright.. if you can figure out how to keep the rootball under ground .... does that make sense ... as you tip it up.. one side of the roots will be way high ....

    perhaps.. you can build a burm and plant it into the side of it.. to accomplish both ...

    ken

  • 19 years ago

    I don't know why Ken's answer hasn't registered and this hasn't budged from the top, but will throw in my 2 cents worth...

    I see no reason why you can't move it, nor any reason why you can't reset it to be more upright - as Ken said, you will need to keep the then-exposed top edge of the root ball covered, and a berm may well be the way to do that.

    If possible, I would wait until the leaves fall off before moving it, taking as large a root ball as you can. If, for scheduling reasons, you need to move it now or before leaf-fall, then still take as large a root ball as you can. Water the tree well the day before you plant to dig it up. Dig the hole where the tree will go before you dig the tree up, even though you may need to enlarge the new hole once you see how big a root ball you have. You should protect the root ball by wrapping it in a tarp to move it, but carry it by the tarp, not by the trunk. Water it really well for the first week, then cut back to watering when the top few inches are dry - stick a finger in the soil to check, not according to a schedule. Mulch as widely as you can, no deeper than 4" and put no mulch in the 2-3" next to the trunk. Water it until the ground gets consistently under 40F, probably around Thanksgiving, and resume watering when the ground thaws in the spring, if it's a dry spring or if you had little snow. Water it well for the next 2-3 years, since it should now be considered a "new" tree.