The survival rate for digging is low and removal of existing soil is stupid. A fair deal has no monetary value.

If they are spontaneous seedlings that have never been transplanted they won't have much potential as a nursery product. Were these lined out in a field, grown as a nursery crop? Even if that is the case if they have been allowed to become crowded beanpoles with wide-reaching root systems the same problems occur as if you were wild-collecting 8' seedlings.

Oregon Association of Nurserymen produces a buyer's guide with wholesale nursery contact information. It is available in print and online. Web pages and publications of these operations will list their prices, although some companies require signing in to see theirs.

These are from planted saplings, about 4 yrs old. They were spaced not in rows but randomly as forest and more survived than we expected. None are beanpoles but beautiful filled-out trees. If not dug out by this fall, the guy says they'll then be too large to consider moving.......without machinery.

Most of my landscape conifers were brought in as 6-8 ft. b&b from local growing fields and they all survived and are growing well. I don't understand the skepticism of digging these trees up.
It's our understanding that buyers/landscapers would be brought out to pick the trees they preferred.

Annz, winter would be a better time for digging these unless you mean late Fall...any time soon and the mortality rate will be high.

At 8ft and filled out, these are large for considering for a reforestation project for someone...tree planters normally plant bare root in winter, carry 40 or more trees at a time as they are planting - trees of the size you describe would make the planting prohibitive. They may have some value as landscape trees but the demand for Doug fir as ornamentals is somewhat low.

The usual thinning of a stand of trees would be to cut out those that would result in those remaining growing at the desired spacing - cut off at the ground and not dig so if you are getting the labor done for no cost it would most likely be considered fair if no money is exchanged.

The better B&B tree growers in our region - i.e. the only ones who can hope to remain competitive by offering a quality product - practice intensive root pruning throughout the life of the trees to ensure a dense rootball close to the base of the trunk. If done properly then only 20 - 50% of roots are lost when the tree is harvested giving it a reasonable chance of survival. By contrast, trees that have not undergone root pruning throughout their lives are likely to have far reaching root systems with relatively few roots near the base of the trunk. When they are dug 70 - 90% of roots may be lost and the survival rate could be low.

I have been working in retail nurseries for a few years. Most failures with B&B trees are the result of the grower's failure to root prune the trees. When we take the burlap off we find a big tree with three big roots that were cut off at the edge of the rootball. The rest of the soil falls away and there are no smaller roots. With only three big roots no wonder the tree didn't make it.

Anyways, I'm concerned that might be a problem for your trees. Maybe you should dig a couple of them up and see what the root system looks like.

I guess your landscaper screwed you if your so unhappy about the fallacy of digging up natural Doug Firs. They aren't worth nothing cause a digger would cost more than they are worth.

ian,
Thanks for taking the time to explain the importance of continual root pruning in the survival rate of transplanted large trees.
None of these trees have been root pruned and after reading your post I don't think the guy is going to have much success transplanting any of them. We planted the acreage as forest with the intention to start thinning this fall by cutting selected trees to the ground.

morz8,
Any digging would be done late fall and the guy interested in them would not be using them for reforestation but for resale to landscapers. I don't think he's expecting them to be used as ornamental but more as privacy barriers.
We went into this arrangement with the agreement that no money would be exchanged and we would like to make sure he doesn't get the short end of the deal. We have no intention of taking advantage of this guy and if he's not able to sell any trees, we will pay him for his time.

muddy,
No, my landscaper didn't screw me. Apparently I didn't explain myself well in my last post but the ornamental 'landscape confers' I mentioned were planted in my yard. Since they are doing so well, I have to assume they were root pruned as ian described.
The Douglas Firs in question cover several acres on our property and the person interested in them is not a landscaper but someone who has worked in reforestation.
I'm not unhappy about any of this. Doesn't matter to me whether they're dug out or cut down.......I just need them gone.