Successfuly Transplanting maples?

[rookie]

Does anybody know any tricks on how to transplant small maples, I've tried several times with no luck. Is there a there a time of year to do it any other tips? and how long should it take for a maple to grow to ten inches? I know that they have a slow growth rate, not sure how slow?

[buckeye gold]

Dig them after they go dormant in the fall and plant them where you want them. You can wait until late winter, but get them before buds start to open. If they have lost all their leaves the you can dig them. If your digging in the growing season, then you have to ball them. Balling is going out a foot for every inch in diameter and digging dirt roots and all. Search ball and burlap transplanting on the web. I worked in a state nursery and a commercial nursery both for 5 years and transplanted thousands. Keep them well watered too.

[jmayerl]

I transplanted a 1.5" ten footer two springs ago. I dug a foot around and a foot deep. Watered it every day for the first year and it looked great this last summer on its own. I moved it just before the buds popped in spring. I have heard it takes on average about 30 years to get to 10" dba.

[heus]

Make sure you don't plant it where the soil is wet. When its a sapling it will grow great in wet soil but once it reaches 15-25 years the wet soil will slowly kill it. Reds and silvers on the other hand, will grow in almost any soil condition.

[buckeye gold]

Yes indeed heus you are right, understand the tree and where it likes to live

[maple flats]

30 years in a natural wood setting is common, but in a planted, tended environment you can do better. The more sun you give it the better. You might have one 10" DBH (diameter breast height) at 20 years if good sun, soil and water conditions, 10" is OK to tap, some tap at 8" but not widely accepted. The sun factor is just making sure the stand is not crowded.

[Ecnerwal]

In general, you do better moving them small, barring huge equipment. Small will recover and grow well where bigger takes more damage and does not recover from transplanting as fast (or dies on you).

Got one in the lawn I moved out from under the big-momma in the forest - I try to keep it a bit trimmed up so it's less of a "pasture tree" (all limby, no height) - don't recall exactly when I did it, probably more than 10 years ago, up to about 3-4" now (1/2" when moved, IIRC.)

As others have said, do it when there are no leaves on, unless you happen to have a giant automated tree-spade handy. Also follow all other tree transplant practices - don't let the roots dry out, give it a big enough hole, take enough root mass or root ball to go with the tree, and water it well (frequently, rather than making it terribly sodden a few times) until it has re-established itself. Do not change the height of soil, ether - it should be planted at the same depth it was growing, not deeper, not shallower. Perhaps also prune the top to compensate for the fact that you will have damaged the roots and lost some of them, so the roots it will have (until it regrows some) won't be able to support the leaf load it was going to put out.

Somewhere along the start of winter, spread manure all around, and if you burn wood or know people who do, collect the wood ash (not coal) and spread that around (spread, _not_ dumped in a pile). If your town collects leaves, offer to be a place that they can dump them. All these things provide nutrients that will help grow the trees, so long as you don't put them on when they would cause the trees to have a growth spurt at the wrong time and cause winter damage. The PMRC document on fertilizing also suggests that for some areas lime would be a good addition.

[bobsklarz]

Might wanna wrap that trunk w/ tree wrap or those insulation tubes they put around copper pipes. Prevents sun scald and critters chewing on the trunk under the snow. Fall is the best time.

[twitch]

wasn't there a post on here last year with someone selling fast growing high sugar trees is there any fact to those or just a good sales pitch I got a place I would love to plant part of a pasture that has grown up hard would mostly birch 2" diameter very dense nice slop facing dead south. Had thoughts of grubing it out and planting maples but not sure I want to wait thirty years. Some one I think had said ten trees one the fast growing trees.

[cvmaple]

My neighbour transplanted sugar maple s in 1989 and he tapped them (5/16") last spring for the first time. My cousin in 1994 and he has some that are close to the right size. The trees with the best shelter from the wind will grow the fastest. Be prepared to water them for the first 3 years if conditions turn dry. Hope this helps.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Ecnerwal - Ditto on the wood ash. When I go out in the woods and see the old cellar holes, half sunk into the original grade and half raised by fill, and always surrounded by giant old sugar maples, I always think that the wood ash in the middle of winter never made it too far from the front door!

[rookie]

thanks for all the tips!

[Rossell's Sugar Camp]

Tom Patterson says to put a small chunk of iron below the tree when you plant it. He claims it works very well for him.