transplanting bare root maples?

[hl_tree]

I looked at a job last week which included transplanting a roughly 8 - 10 foot tall japanese maple along with some other shrubs. Obviously the large jap maple is my main concern. It's sandwiched in next to a house with a euonymous, rhodi, and a few azaleas. I just ordered an air spade to get the sucker out while trying to keep as much of the root system in tact as possible. Any suggions on how to increase my chances for survival? I plan on stripping the root ball down to bare roots so that it can be moved by hand by 3 guys. I'm going to have some guys dig a hole by hand for it and ammend the existing soil (clay) with compost. Then backfill with the air spade.

 

[mdvaden]

Will the air from the air spade dry the roots out?

 

[hl_tree]

Figure I'll spritz it with water throughout the procedure.

 

[Zac]

If you're putting it back into the ground the same day it should be fine. It's coming up on the dormant season, so the tree isn't thinking about doing much right now. Always stake a bareroot tree after planting, they don't have big balls to hold them in place (sorry, couldn't resist!).

give it a good watering after transplanting to help everything settle into place.

Be careful with amendments, using too much will essentially make the tree "pot bound." Because the surrounding soil is so much more favorable for growth, some roots won't grow out into the unamended soil potentially girdling the tree.

Have fun!