Can you possibly post a photo of this tree? Yes, it is probably the worst possible time to attempt this and depending the age of this tree - which we can't tell just by size - it may not even be practical to attempt, given the size of the rootball required. Try and include one that shows the base of the tree as well as an overall view as close as you can get, yet still showing the whole tree.

Thanks! I will upload images now

It's about 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall and about 4 feet wide if that's useful to know. Any advice so gratefully received. it is a gorgeous looking plant with absolutely no leaf scorch or signs of distress. It's clearly very happy in its current spot but it's going to get the chop if I don't dig it and take it away. I would love to try and save it even if I know the chances of survival are low.

Also, it's more of a 'large shrub', rather than a full Acer tree. I've just seen that some acers grow into full blown trees. This is one is definitely more the large garden shrub variety.

Just a heads up for our USA friends. Our 'heatwave' means 70s f. But we do have a prolonged lack of rain (ie about 3 weeks where I am) and drying winds so this tree will need a lot of water and some sort of temporary windbreak.

How handy are you and your friends with a shovel? Or several shovels? Maples are tough trees. If you had access to one of these marvelous machines:

(fair use from: http://raemelton.com/workingatraemelt.html )

And no concerns about buried wires/utilities, it would be the work of a moment and the tree would almost certainly survive. (for people who haven't seen these devices, that massive silver blade scoops under a tree forming a perfect rootball. The ones this nursery uses are made in Italy!)

So...point is...the more soil mass you can get, the better a chance it can survive. But maples have strong and extensive root systems, so you have a lot of digging in your future if it's that important for you to get it. That being said it really isn't that big...so who knows. If they were planted from containers only a couple years ago they might be fairly easy to move. (but odd that you see to show pictures of 2 different plants...I see a green JM and a red one?)

Good luck!

I moved one much larger that that in mid July and it did fine.

Get the new hole dug first so the tree doesn't have to lay around with its roots exposed waiting for you. Dig wide and get as much soil as possible- beyond the canopy for sure. Lift it very carefully on a shovel (do not "pull" it or lift it by the trunk) and lay it on a tarp for transport- carrying by the trunk allows too much of the soil to fall away and causes roots to tear.

Lay something fabric over the roots and wet it- an old sheet or light blanket is fine. Keep the roots covered and the fabric wet the entire time it is out of the ground.

Plant it high so that when it settles the root flare is still above grade. Water it in super well- even water the hole first. Water with a hose on a slow trickle not a walk-by spray and leave the running hose lying there 30 minutes then scoot it over for another 30. This is how you need to be watering the rest of the summer- deeply and well. How often depends on your rainfall but at least twice a week while it is hot then once a week through the fall. Don't stop when it gets cool- keep watering until your ground is well and truly frozen.

And the most important step for summer transplanting- after it is replanted shade it somehow for the first few weeks- you can use sheets, stakes, and clothespins for this. Get creative- floating row cover works well too and is lightweight, but you need to use something. If you keep it shaded and well watered it should do fairly well.

That's what worked for me.

@cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky) amazing advice - thank you so much. I feel much more positive that this might actually work, and if it doesn't then so be it. When you say make the rootball atleast the size of the canopy do you mean all the way out to the outer leaves? That would make the rootball about 4-5 feet in length. This is my first attempt at doing this and I want to try and give it the best chance but it'll be just me and another very petite woman (both 5ft tall) lifting it into the van. If I need to dig this far out I absolutely will do but just thought I would check where the canopy ends. I will make sure to slide the sheet under the rootball and then lift the whole rootball instead of using the trunk. I also loved the advice to wet it ready for transport. I am literally going to follow everything you've said step by step tomorrow and I will post an update.

Thank you so much Houzz community for the excellent comments and advice. @UpperBayGardener (zone 7) the photos are of the same plant - strangely the base leaves underneath the canopy are still green. Perhaps because they are completely protected from the sun? I'm new to gardening and sadly it's just me, a range of garden shovels and a lot of elbow grease. It's great to know that tools like this exist though and I will try and look into this in future. I'm expecting it to take me a good couple of hours (and a lot of youtube videos) to carve out the rootball. @floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK thank you for clarifying the UK heatwave and @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) for quite rightly making sure I keep my expectations of its survival in check.

If there is anything else you think I should do to give it a fighting chance please do let me know and I will report back tomorrow. Like I said, this is the first year that I have started growing plants and this is a rather big and slightly daunting challenge. Fingers crossed I can get it up and moved to its new home.

Becks

Oh sorry! @cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky) one other question. If the Acer has big roots that extend even further can I saw these and make a clean cut or do I need to make sure that I protect every root? I think there might be some really big ones as it looks like he's well established. Thank you so much for your advice.

Maples have a wide shallow root system. Get as much of the root mass as you can. You can cut roots if you need to but don't tear them.

It may thus be useful if you take a pair of pruners and even a lopper with you.

Fantastic - I will do just that.

Thank you for the excellent advice.

here is a very old post.. the pix are now down below ... it will give you a flavor of what needs be done ... you need to scale it up ...

when you read not to move trees in the heat of summer.. i am talking about 80 to 100 degrees F .. and do note.. its technically still spring ...

just do it... dont hurt yourself ... and if you win.. you win.. and if you dont.. well.. at least you tried ... no whining about failure ...

if you can shade it for a few weeks after.. reducing sun stress on leaves with disturbed roots.. all the better ...

ken

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1827881/how-to-transpalnt-a-conifer-tree-huge-pix-post

Hi @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 - love your philosophy. Totally agree, if I win - great! It not, well the plant was going to die anyway. I will erect a shield to protect it from the sun and thanks for sharing the link.

do keep us posted on how it goes

Will do @ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5. I'm just organising a van to collect the maple once I have dug it up. Looks like I can't book on until tomorrow, so I'm hoping to push back the dig. Worst case scenario is that the owners of the property want it gone today and I have to dig it and store it in a dark shed on their property before I can move it and transplant it. I'm hoping if I fully wet the soil and wrap it well, it'll forgive the delay. Not ideal by any stretch but hay, this is all a bit of fun.

Good luck Rebecca, keep us updated on your progress.

Thanks @UpperBayGardener (zone 7). I'm off to dig it up and will report back on progress this evening. Fingers crossed i can get it out of the ground. It looked solid as a rock when I went over yesterday and that was after 2 days of watering.

Update - the tree is up and planted in my garden BUT nothing went to plan. It was unbelievably difficult to dig the shrub and my perfect plans of creating a lovely rootball and transporting it on the wings of a fairy to my flat did not pan out. In the end we were yanking, pulling, tipping, ripping and basically doing everything I know we shouldn't have done to this poor plant. By the end the rootball was a tangled web of poorly cut exposed root (the mud fell away in large barren clumps), and then when we got it back to the apartment we realised it was too big to fit down the alley to access the garden so had to lop off branches and scrape it along fences. I dug a hole in the pitch black which I know is both too narrow and too shallow for this poor tree, stuffed the roots in the whole whilst arguing with my long-suffering boyfriend who made it clear that under no circumstances was he helping me dig up this tree (he did) and I better not call him near hysterics (I did) and dumped some ericaceous and John Innes No. 3 over the top of it. Finally, I shone my torch on my once beautiful majestic plant only to discover I've planted it with its best aspect facing the fence and the hacked branches facing the house. I've lost any and all hope of this poor thing surviving and I expect I will be digging it up and hauling it to the dump in the next few weeks. Oh well, we tried. I now have the literal scars to prove it. Does anyone else find that these types of jobs impossible with their SO? Thanks a million team and if by miracle of miracles this plant survives it will be all down to you. I might have to dig it back up first thing tomorrow and see if I can wiggle it into a better position. It looks TERRIBLE haha! I will send photos tomorrow

Absolutely nothing of any value or experience to offer here, but ... first of all, congratulations on your caper! No it may not have gone perfectly, but you tried ... and the plant knows it (to some degree at least).

Second, I bet it will live, and I think it should be okay to turn it around too, or at least, I doubt it will make things much worse, if you do it soon. Nor is it purely frivolous, since ime we take better care of the plants we are fond of. (Unless that is just me.) Don't forget to shade it, and if it were me I might talk to it too and play it some nice instrumental music. And follow the watering instructions.

If you do plan to turn it, I'd go ahead and take pictures of the hole, the rootball, and so on.

Maybe even tell people here what time you plan to do it, GMT. And post the pics. That way maybe you can get real-time good advice from people who know things (unlike me).

The plant has already been traumatized (sorry if that sounds harsh ... I don't mean it that way, and in fact this sounds like something I'd do...) and you may as well optimize its little rootball situation.

Good luck!!!!

Hello! It doesn't sounds harsh at all. It's definitely been traumatised. I'm attaching a photo of the plant in its new position and would love to know if I have planted it too high. Whenever I water it, I end up uncovering some of the roots. Do I need to compact the earth more? Also, If I move it should I try and clean up the rootball? If I need to move it then I will do it at 6pm GMT. At the moment I'm giving it loads of water and I have erected a sunshade.

dumped some ericaceous and John Innes No. 3 over the top of it.

==>>> is this some type of hipster british talk im unfamiliar with ... lol ...

i hope that you didnt waste beer on it ... lol .. [i looked it up.. i know what you did there...]

we can clean up the bad pruning.. in the future.. ignore such for now ... in tree time.. im talking in the next 3 to 5 years ... and crikey.. if you move.. just leave the dam tree there.. lol ...

btw: many gardening couples either have their own garden hobbies .. like flowers versus lawn warrior.. etc .. or one gardens and one golfs [just get the hell out of here and let nme play in my garden...lol] ... its not uncommon that there is little interaction .. lol ... but.. i think you owe him big time ... figure out how to reward him ...

just keep it properly watered.. and lets look for the root flare: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=tree+root+flare&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images

if im reading the pics correctly.;. it may have been planted too deep ... in the next few weeks.. lets try to remove some soil around the trunk ..VERY GENTLY ... and find the root flare ...

it is not uncommon for the soil to settle after planting and watering ... just keep adding some.. little by little until its properly buried ...

yes i would trod on it.. to compact it somewhat.. you dont want air pockets underground ...

in the worse case.. it browns in summer and dies ... if it makes it thru that.. late winter next spring would be the next possible death time .. and if it makes it thru that period.. you may have won ...

im glad you had you quest .. adventure... and kept your sense of humor ... two thumbs up ...

perhaps now you are seeing that even if a nursery tree fo this type cost you $100 [sorry.. dont know the conversion .. what 85 pounds or 91 Euro.. i got curious].. it might have been well worth just buying that one ... lol ... and it would have only been a foot or to tall ... and in a pot ...

do not be surprised if it loses all its leaves.. if it doesnt.. good deal .. but if it does.. properly watered.. it might releaf ...

and for sure.. its stressed.. i doubt i need to explain.. lol.. its not hungry.. fert is not a response at this time.. just proper watering ...

ken

ps: in my sand.. almost all my transplanting results in bare rooting the plants... and this is one reason i would not have tried it with this big a plant ... or in the alternative.. i would have done it when the tree was dormant.. or leafless ... just so i wouldnt have to look at them for a few months ... but.. you did what you had to do.. when you had to do it ... and so be it ...

proper watering here: https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

Please do not give up hope or do anything until you see what happens next spring. I moved a Japanese maple once, much like yours and the same thing happened. Hoped for a great root ball, got roots with barely any soil. I kept it well watered throughout the season. The leaves were completely (and I mean completely....no life in them....but they never fell off the tree) drooped the entire season but I figured what would it hurt to wait and leave it. Almost 20 years later it is an amazing large shade tree that we love. Everyone who came to the garden that year told me the tree was toast. I thought they were right but just decided to wait and see. Glad I did! Good luck!

When I moved to another house, knowing the house we sold was going to be demolished for a commercial building my husband and I dug up a large Cut Leaf Japanese Maple to bring to the new garden. It was hard work digging out with the low branches getting in the way of digging, but we were determined to save this beauty. Many roots were cut and broken. Seems there was a tap root or something deep we had to sever and then it came out. It survived in a pot for about 2 years and finally the garden was ready for it and now it is thriving in the ground for about 5 years. I sure hope it survived for you after all your hard work!

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 - 😂so true! I'm definitely going to leave the tree in its new home if we don't move in the next 2 years. I couldn't handle the stress. The photo is deceptive but the root flare is right there. Infact, if I water the plant the whole thick root flare root system is exposed. I've just covered the 2 thick flare roots with a bit of earth after watering. We are definitely going to find different hobbies. I think I will be sticking with my cheap nursery trees from now on. Although, my tiny Japanese maple has some serious leaf scorch going on this year. Thanks for the great advice on watering. I've been lovingly watering it every night. The leaves are starting to turn a little crisp but 3 days in it hasn't started dropping them yet. I'm waiting for the inevitable day I pop out and it looks like October.

@Sue Hughes Zone 6b in Pittsburgh your tree is GORGEOUS! Wow - I would be thrilled if my tree came back to life next year and produced such a beautiful spread. It looks great. Did it suffer in the pot? Did you lose any leaves etc? Yes we had the same issue with the tap roots. Gosh they really are strong. We ended up with a really large eggshaped exposed rootball which was far too close to the trunk in some places and very long in others. It's fantastic to know that some trees can recover from a rather brutal uprooting.

@Thyme2dig NH Zone 5 Great advice and thank you. I would have definitely assumed it was dead and dug it up. I will give it a year and see if it comes back to life. At the moment it still has its leaves but I think that's because the trunk retains water and it's not yet caught up with the reality of its new home. I'm expecting a rapid decline next week. It's been very windy and very sunny here and I've been trying to shade it as much as possible. Fingers crossed it doesn't die completely. I don't mind losing a few leaves but it would be a shame to lose the tree entirely after all our hard work.

Hi! Just curious, how is your tree doing? Well, I hope.