You cannot be serious. A 25' living tree? Are you going to throw it into the back of a pick up truck...with a crane? Huh????

-Babka

A lot more info is needed. What is the budget? As you said, 25' plus is a huge tree. They require cranes and commercial trucks to move. Is it going to be planted into the ground? Do you have an existing hole or will that need to be excavated? What obstacles are there between road and site, etc.? The costs are different for boxed trees vs. moving an in-ground tree from one location to another. What if the tree dies? Where are you located? Even if we could find a donated tree, there is no way to know if transport is within a feasible distance.

Mature trees are expensive, and expensive to transport and place. This is not a low-budget undertaking. That you are unconcerned about the species, makes me wonder if you really understand the realities of this project.

A 25' tree is going to be in like a 72" box and need a tractor trailer and a crane to move it. It you have found a nursery with such a tree but it's too expensive then you simply cannot afford your art project and you need to find more money.

Could you use an existing tree on someone else's property? Will your project damage the tree?

Hi, Thank you for the comments (/lectures).

I have done my research and am well aware of the logistics and costs that this project will require, which is why I am posting here, in search of alternative options / suggestions.

We have a few options from tree nurseries, however we are looking for alternative options of acquiring a tree that may or may not cut some of the costs / may result in a better looking tree.

We are looking in the Los Angeles area for anyone who would be willing to sell a tree on their property. In this case we would be taking care of the removal/transportation. (I have contacted crane companies and tree removal services and again, am aware of the logistics.)

Because of the lack of availability for this kind of odd request, I am not limiting the search to any specific kind of tree.

We will be damaging the tree, unfortunately - as we will need to remove it with the rootball intact.

Ideally, we would find someone who is already planning on having a tree removed due to complications like disease, power lines, etc - from whom we would purchase and remove the tree for.

Raising the budget at this time is simply not an option - it is the nature of production to work around it, and I am trying everything to make this project happen as best as it could!

Hope this is more informative - I appreciate all and any kind of help/contribution!

In that case you may want to contact contractors who flip houses. Often there are large trees they need to remove when they remodel houses to make them bigger. They would love someone to take over the cost of removing the tree. Not sure where you would get the contact info of those contractors, but I know there's a couple organizations of contractors that may be of some help. Here's the Southern CA one;

http://www.sccaweb.org/

Northern one;

http://nccaframers.com/

Good luck!

How do you plan on removing a 25' tree with rootball intact? An air spade is all I can think of and I can't imagine too many people in LA are going to want a 20' hole in their yard not to mention basically sandblasting the neighborhood. A tree spade isn't going to do that job.

This is why I don't work production any more. It's filled with people that have absolutely unrealistic expectations and no practical experience.

You do realize that an intact rootball is going to be 2-3x the width of the camopy, right? So if you have a tree that has a 25' canopy you'll probably need to excavate 50-60' to accomodate the furthest extent of feeder roots if you want the full rootball. This is impossible in most suburban yards as you'll be under the house and in the neighbor's property almost instantly as you follow the roots out.

You would be better off finding an orchard in the central valley that is ripping out all it's trees because of the drought. You just have to get to the trees before the bulldozers do.

I can't think of a single contractor that would have rather have someone dig up the entirety of the yard just to remove a tree for free. Tree guys can take a tree down pretty quickly and for not an outrageous amount of money.

It would be cheaper to buy a 25' tree in a 72" box than to dig one up root ball intact at someone's house. You think you are going to get a 25' tree root system out of the ground via a couple of guys with shovels?

Absolutely. But of course if the goal is to illustrate a natural root system (botanical artist) then you couldn't even use the box tree because it will just illustrate a deformed container root system which is nothing like the root system of a field grown tree.

Sounds like you just want a tree thats alive for a short time- for the exhibit? So,like a Christmas tree thing? When you say any tree will do...that sounds like a short term care thing.

Then,contact a tree removal company like Davey. They could yank one out and deliver same day I would think.

Just on the news today- PGE has a tree removal program. Its a long shot .

So lookingforatree, any chance you could update this for us? A lot of folks have given some interesting ideas, have any been helpful?

Also, if you are allowed to say, can you tell us what this is for? Sounds like an interesting project. I'm super curious about what you are doing.

So many people post questions here on Garden Web and a lot of people answer, but quite often that's the end of it. Lot's of folks left hanging.

Don't be one of them, tell us whacha' doin'? And any good leads? Curious minds want to know. ;)

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and tips!

I have been in contact with a few people who are willing to sell their tree that are potential options at the moment. I would need to compare the tree price + tree removal with the tree price from a large specimen tree nursery to see which would be best for us. Also, of course, the look of the tree is very important.

This tree is actually for an art project we are working on - we are hanging the tree in midair - so it's all very exciting and I'm so grateful for all your help!