Moving oak tree (please help)

beautifulsorta

Hello everybody--

I currently live in Folsom, CA (Northern California). My dad lives in Thousand Oaks (Southern California). Last summer upon visiting him, I noticed that a Canyon Live Oak had sprouted up in his yard! I was very pleased to see this, personally. It was growing in a small plot of dirt near the retaining wall and the swimming pool.

My dad, however, was less pleased. He was worried that over time, the Canyon Live Oak would destroy his swimming pool. He talked about moving it, but I made him promise not to hurt the tree, since I am an avid tree lover (I am currently raising one Valley Oak baby and a Blue Oak baby).

This spring the Canyon Live Oak proved that the surrounding conditions were very good for it. It sprouted like crazy! The tree is now over 5ft tall. My dad is furious, claiming that I need to find a way to move the tree or he's going to cut it down

I was wondering if anybody had any advice for me. I really want to try and save the tree. Does anybody know of a tree mover who can professionally uproot it in the Ventura County area...or have advice as to how my dad and I could maybe tackle this on our own. I really want to give this little tree a chance, it's so cute and precious. Please help!

Eric Frei

Hard to say without seeing or pictures.

What dia is the trunk? If the trunk is only say 3" dia then this'll be a cinch.

You should be able to do this easily, just watch what time you do it as the heat of summer is not the best. If it's a deciduous tree be a lot easier and better to do it when it has no leaves and is dormant in winter.

See if you can get some pictures, also tell us little about the type of soil it's coming from to the type it's going to.

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treeseer

tap root will be like a carrot. much digging required. long steel shovel is good for prying these out. suggest planting acorns and waiting the extra year.

beautifulsorta

I hope that link worked. It's hard to see its exact size since it's leaning a bit...

Its trunk diameter is about a half inch

Eric Frei

Lordy, I've pulled weeds bigger than that.

Just get a spade and dig it out. I'd dig it so it'd fit in a 300mm dia pot (12" dia).

The spade should be flat bottomed and sharp, go round the tree to spade depth and cut the soil/roots, then with the spade all the way down start to tilt the root ball up be using the spade as a lever (this is when you find out how good the handle is), should come if not keep sliding the spade under till you cut any roots and the whole thing should come out, drop it in a pot and off you go.

Water before, dont let roots dryout, and after. Easy.

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