I've never been able to get an established one to survive transplanting. Going crispy is not a good sign.

I have moved Camellia sasanqua successfully. But not C. japonica.

I have moved many-- sucessfuly, follow what I posted on page 2 under posting of "Camellia Murderer"-- If you do it like that, you will have a high sucess rate, now some folks will sacrifice the plant cause they dont want to prune it, wich is fine-- they will just have a dead plant.
You need to prune the top BEFORE you dig.

Thanks for the posts!

I wish I'd posted before the transplant, but unfortunately I did not.

I have been watering, and the soil (beneath the mulch) is cool and moist, but the leaves are indeed crispy.

I've gently cut several branches and each still shows green, but there are no more healthy looking leaves.

Based on what I've read, I've not done any branch pruning.

I did feed the plant some "camellia food" I found at Home Depot.

Is there anything further I ought to do to help the plant?

Thanks again,

Alan

Never feed / fertilize a freshly transplanted plant. Roots have been severed- thats a big deal.

Good Luck, hope it lives

Alan, it's long been established that top pruning before digging and transplanting is very counter productive for the plant. It 'sounds' like it makes sense (cut the roots:cut the top to compensate), but plant physiology doesn't back it up.

You see, there is only one source of energy for making new roots...actually many sources and they are the leaves. Leaves and only the leaves are what create, through the process of photosynthesis, the carbon resources (energy)required to grow. If you prune off a bunch of the top growth, then the energy production is diminished enormously. Not only that, but the plant will be induced to expend unnecessary energy on the making of new leaves instead of new roots!

Located in all of those branch ends (the growing tips) are hormones that dictate to a plant where to initiate new growth. By leaving those tips uncut, the plant is able to devote energy to root production. If you cut back the top, those hormonal pathways will be rerouted to shoot (above ground) development.

Even though we can't see the regeneration of new roots, it happens very rapidly and very aggressively, as long as we have followed other proper planting specifications.

If you've simply cut here and there, perhaps to remove broken branches and such, that's fine. You've done your homework.

By the way, the use of pruning paint has been discarded as good horticultural/arboricultural practice for practically a generation!

To add to the problems that your specific plant had is that its root system was ripped from the soil system, rather than being cut cleanly. Big problem. It's size makes it a more difficult transplant, too. There are several 'rule-of-thumb' measurements to go by regarding the size of the root ball required. One that I usually use is simple to remember: for every one inch of trunk DIAMETER (not circumference), you'll need twelve inches of root ball diameter. Take the trunk measurement about 4 inches above the soil level, which will typically be a wide part of the trunk. So, if the trunk of your camellia was, say, three inches across, then you'd want to dig a root ball that was around 36 inches across. The height of the plant makes no difference.

camellias do not have a agressive root system-I have grown literally hundreds of different types of plants(trees ,shrubs, etc..) in containers and in ground. And literally THOUSANDS of camellias both in containers and in the ground, and I can assure they do not have an agressive root system. I have RARELY lost a camellia I have transplanted in the ground.

Also I might add---most expierenced nurseryman will tell you generally that the top of a tree is a reflection of the bottom and vise versa. If the root system is not healthy , the foliage will reflect that & vis versa. I highly doubt you can transplant a good size plant with severing a large portion of its root system and leaving its canopy intact and it will live. Good luck though.

Well I wil say this--

The " agressive " term was taken from the 4th paragraph of your last post.

Realy- I just post my expierence,trying to help folks-- I can only go by what I know from first hand expierence-that means Me actually doing the things I stated, I have done all those things I have posted with the sucess I mentioned. Maybe I got lucky all them times , though I highly doubt it.

Its not that I do or dont believe you- that doesnt matter to me-- & it shouldnt to you either.

The folks here can do things however they please, wont hurt my feelings one bit!!!! I will continue to do things they way that has been sucessful for me for decades and be satisfied with my results

And dont get the idea that Im mad or have bad feelings for you just cause we view things differently- I think more of folks that will stand up for what they believe in than anyone who just keeps silent like some of the other posters on other forums-- dont read into whats not there!!

Im happy!!!