Digging up an Acer Tree and potting it?

Counting_Pennies_2

I wonder if you can help.

We are due to move house shortly and have an Acer Tree we planted when our son was born 7 years ago.

We would like to dig it up and pop it in a pot for about 6 months while we move into rental and await access to our new home.

Can anyone advise the best way of doing this. How big a hole to dig around, what sort of pot to put it in (we have a large square pot that has a reservoir in the bottom, would that be too damp?) Should the pot be plastic, ceramic?

Any advice you can give we would be incredibly grateful

Many thanks

valk_scot

If you've sold the house and not come to a specific agreement on the Acer tree before the sale then you can't just take it with you as trees are part of the property. But if you do have the exclusion clause already set up could you not ask the new owners if they'd mind looking after it till the dormant season? It's a terrible time of year to move a mature tree and chances are it won't survive.

Not sure of you can propagate Acers from cuttings or suckers but it is an option. Might be worth Googling it.

lolly5648

We dug up an Acer but can't remember the time of year. It is now in a large plastic pot (wouldn't have been able to move it in a ceramic pot. It is very happy in its pot now although the first year in the pot the leaves went dry and brown at the ends because I didn't water it enough, this year it is beautiful.

poly1

The RHS site has useful advice on softwood cuttings HERE also HERE is its info on Acers and THIS page from the telegraph has a question about moving an acer but after 7 years I imagine it will be very difficult.

annie123

I agree with valk_scot.......moving now would be very bad, and I love the idea of the new owners minding it for you.

If you must move it, take cuttings.....just in case.

Dig as big root ball as you can (around and under) and have a very big pot to put it in, water well and keep your fingers crossed.
Replant in it's final home in late autumn.

You can grow them in pots anyway. I have one which must be 20 years old now and looks lovely.
It's in a 30" ceramic pot and about 8' tall.

Counting_Pennies_2

Thanks all, great replies.

We have included it within the list we are taking with us. The previous owners did exactly the same thing for a Magnolia on the same spot, so obviously this spot is for great meaning items!

I think it is a great idea to speak to the new owners to see if they would mind keeping it until late autumn.

We move into rental in a month, and then into our new home at the end of September, so do you think October would be a good time to move it?

Thanks

valk_scot

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

We move into rental in a month, and then into our new home at the end of September, so do you think October would be a good time to move it?

Thanks

You need time to dig and prepare a hole for it, then get it out of the ground after leaf drop but before the frosts. So late Orctober sounds about right. It would be best to dig out as big a root ball as possible and transport it with the root ball tied up in sacking or tarp rather than try to jam it into a pot. Wrap the upper stems into a soft package too, to avoid damage. If you dig out a huge hole btw it would probably be polite to offer to pay for the topsoil to refill it...or a nice garden centre voucher as thanks for tree-sitting would go down well I would think?