I have done that and it lived, but I didn’t do it in August.

tj

If possible, should have waited until Oct or later.

Amount of roots looks reasonable. Planting it ASAP and keeping it moist is all you can do.

it is not going to survive unless you get it into a hole

then water every 4 days

I planted on the day of and already ran a hose on it for an hour for 2 days straight. The reason I did it now and not later was so it can establish a little more in preparation for winter. We have frequent high winter winds here and don’t want to risk wind burn

Hi Heruga,

HERE is my thread on how to hand dig a tree. BillMN also included a link on that thread with a good video. The ratio of top to roots is waaaaaay off with your spruce. Your spruce will defoliate and die within a few days.

Perhaps the treatment that you showed is good for iris and daylilies, IDK. A beautiful spruce like the one in your first pic deserves better treatment than that.

Looking at only the information you have given us Heruga.

My first concern too is the small size of root ball was taken on such a large tree.

Second, anytime you find yourself with a bare root tree for whatever reason. The first thing you have to do is place it in a tub of water and keep it out of the sun until you can get it properly planted.

Third, is when you dig a root ball, you want to avoid just cutting a circle in the ground with your shovel. That's a good way to break off roots in a ragged fashion because you can't see what's going on during the process and a little prying is all it takes to break roots..

Sams tutorial and the link to dans garden both show a proper way to dig a tree you want to move. Here's a picture of a spruce I moved in August back in 2017.

You want to expose the root ball so you can see what you're doing and are less likely to have it fall apart (you want to water the soil first to give it some 'stickyness' so it stays together).

And according to your last picture, the roots appear to be contorted with 'J' hooks like the tree was never planted properly in the first place.

If you give that tree some sunshade and keep the soil consistently moist, there is a chance it will survive. But don't bet anything valuable on that to happen.

Sorry things just don't look too good right now.

bill

My 2 cents - there's a small chance it might have worked in winter, but I don't think it will survive at this time of year with such a root loss. So I'm on team Sam this time. We'll see!

Thanks all. I knew I didn’t transplant it right, I did it just like I would with a perennial. Will update soon

I would have been very concerned about the condition of the existing roots, too. As far as survival of the tree during the winter, protecting it with a wrap of natural burlap is commonplace practice for evergreens. Your local home center, garden center, or nursery should have plenty in stock in your location.

Way to go Heruga.

I would've never thought.

Is that a design feature with 3 different kinds of trees in a cluster or it just looks that way from the camera angle?

Good job!

;-)

I also thought it would die for sure considering the drought us east coasters had last fall and the brutal winter(frequent 45mph+ winds under 20 degrees) we had.

It’s just how it looks like from that angle. But there is another tree to the left thats got a cage around it, thats my picea koyamae. i

I’m testing to see which one grows faster and healthier in that spot, the one that fails will come out and will be planted in another spot.