[blondie]

Can anyone please tell me how or when to transplant these?They are about 5 foot high have never berried,At a guess I would think they are planted maybe 8/9 years,they were maybe 6 inches high when I planted from small pots.
There are three of them but they are only a couple of inches apart 6 at the most.I kept meaning to do so when they were bigger but never got round to it and now that I am I just dont know how.I mean do I cut the bottom branches off ,so I can get a grip on the trunk or will that damage it,the trunks are not very fat about the same as if you were to link the thumb and index finger together.

[kindredspirit]

I transplanted 3 five feet tall holly trees on Monday.

I didn't cut any branches off but I made sure I used gloves!

I just dug them up; they came up with a nice ball of soil around the roots. They had no big roots, just a mass of hairy roots, like that under a large clump of grass.

They were heavy though, so you might need helping lifting and moving them.

[James Kilkelly]

I would try tieing up the lower branches first to save cutting them off.
But if they have to come off, they have to come off.

The month of March is usually the best month to move to a new position any broad leaf evergreen (such as holly) or conifer that is badly placed.
I would consider now a bit late.
But you may be lucky, as I hope kindredspirit will be.

You can have a better chance of a successful transplant if you water heavily the plant to be moved every day for approx five days before moving.
Organise that the new planting pit is dug before you even attempt to lift the transplant, this will minimise the time the transplants roots are exposed to the air.

Lift the transplant with as much soil and fine root present as possible.
When you come to replant it inspect the roots, if any are torn or damaged the trim them back.
You should use a half topsoil and half compost back-fill mix for transplanting, work this around the transplant in the pit with your fingers to eliminate any air pockets.

Water your transplant heavily and water well for their first year.

[blondie]

Well thank you both very much for your replies,I think I will wait till march due to the fact that I now know what to do. Also that I have got advice on what to plant in my jungle for colour.so I will tackle that job first, but am making a monthly diary of all the things to do thanks to this site, so well done to all who use it for helping gardeners like myself.

[mcgrueser]

I was out walking in a woods near me last year, around November time, which i thought would be the best time to move plants thinking they were dormant. There were some small holly trees that i grabbed out of the ground to bring on home with me where i thought i'd be doing them a favour to give them a nice bright garden and lovely composted and manured soil...but it doesnt look like they'll make it. The leaves have been going brown now for a while and they really are looking dead.
My main point here is, I wish i had consulted wth James before i went out trying to pilfer a few small plants from the woods. I'd have known to wait til March to move them.

On the plus side tho the couple of deciduous trees i took are looking good- just starting to bud. They obviuosly were dormant at that time of year when i took them. I never thought that the evergreen would be different...

[blondie]

Is it not illegal to pilfer from woodlands,as ive heard your not ment to take cowslips,primroses,bluebells or any other plantlife from its natural habitat as it were.??
OR is it just generally frowned upon??

[mcgrueser]

It could be illegal alright but the way i was looking at it was that these few of many small trees would never grow as they should because they are being neglected of light and decent room to grow. My plan was to bring them home and give them a good place in my garden..I feel like a saint going round the place... a saint who is going to get heavily fined if caught!

But seriously, i can understand not taking flowers etc from its natural habitat but taking a couple of small tree plants from a clogged group of about 50 of them in the dark-it might be illegal but i do feel like i'm doing the trees a favour at the same time...

[blondie]

Well I can agree with that ,as a matter of fact I did that years ago with my birch trees,but I justified it by way of thinking I was taking the saplings from the bog my father owned,otherwise they would have been knocked by the machines.But it is sad I think, that a genuine life saving task we do can carry such a haevy fine,when you think of all the damage done to bogs and woodlands each year by fire, some deliberate and others just downright carelessness.