Dig them early spring/late winter, before bud break. Take about a one-foot root ball with a shovel. They won't hardly know they were moved.

Works for me. :-)

Thanks for the replies. I’m not sure I ultimately have room for them so I may not do anything

You may be surprise how deeply rooted they already are even at that size. Get a good rootball as Bill says. You might need to go deeper than a foot.

No need to move these with a soil ball if dormant at transplanting time. And as a general policy bare-rooting is preferable for all but kinds of plants that are too densely rooted or sensitive to air exposure. Because a greater total mass of roots is more likely to be retained when digging bare-rooted.

Well, illini, you can see you have a choice of opinions. But, honestly, it’s a self sown maple. You can do pretty much what you like and will be ok.

for relatively little money.. you an buy small version of GREAT heritage oak trees ... and be happy for the rest of your life ..

if you rely on for seeded silver maples.. which will only mean you have millions of more free seedlings over the years.. well go for it.. free is a great deal ..

dig 6 to 8 weeks before the heat of summer climbs.. which in our z5 would mean right after ground thaw.. or mid to late march or early april ...

which means they ill be well settled in in the new spot .. by the heat of july .. in our midwest ..

really.. spend a few busk to invest in quality trees ... they are forever plants ..

in doing this.. the ONLY real issue is timing.. and if you time it right.. per above.. i expect 110% success rate.. yes.. better than complete success ... just watch out for high heat and drought in july and august.. and you will have your lifetime of bitching about the4se allegedly free maples.. lol ...

ken

see section one here: https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

I moved to an old farmhouse that had lots of maple seedlings and young trees. I transplanted about fifty of them. It was only later that I found out they were all Norway Maples, which are not great trees. Now my ex-wife has a forest of them in her front yard. So make sure what you are transplanting.

Spend a few dollars and get the tree you want. You'll be better off in the long run. Trees can have a big future cost. They can add or subtract thousands of dollars from a homes value and may end up costing thousands to tame or remove.

Tree seedling are quite sturdy. We transplanted a magnolia seeding that we found at the edge of an air conditioner pad, and it is now a nice tree about 10' tall.

The seedling are and excellent way to fill a vacant yard with trees. If you decide to change them out with better trees in a few years, you will have plenty o f mulch when you chip them up.

Norway maple remains commercially prevalent because it is a handsome tree that grows in a variety of situations. But in my area it often hosts sucking pests during the dryness of summer. And under suitable conditions it invades woodlands which it inundates with enormous numbers of its progeny. Also as with other large-growing kinds of maples situated in cultivated settings once it gets big enough little underplanting is able to survive beneath it.