Callery pear is agressive here too…it’s the most common plant along I-75 near Lexington KY…it’s gotten ahead of honeysuckle bushes in invasiveness.
It can be a white cloud in spring, but otherwise is a nuisance.
I may dig a few little ones if I get bored this winter…pot 'em up and graft 'em over.
I have moved many types of fruit trees up to 3" in diameter without issue. Although each time they have been replanted within 24 hours at the new location.
Losing a year’s production is about right, it sometimes takes a few more years to ramp production back up to normal levels.
I moved my entire orchard about 11 years ago. I’m glad I did. I think I"m too old to try that scale now. They were mostly 10-12 feet tall. Most lost about a year or just had a few fruits the next year but completely recovered.
John S
PDX OR
John. Thanks for the encouraging words about moving larger fruit trees. I took up my largest one today. I’m not sure if I want to attempt any that is larger. It was on Calery roots and about 2.25" diameter a little above soil level.
Took this pear tree up today and potted it into a large container (24" diameter at the top). The root ball was so large and heavy I had to slowly remove some of the soil so it could be lifted up into the pot. The tree itself has been trimmed to keep it smaller. Earlier this year I decided to give it a makeover by grafting long scions to most limbs and a few months later I trimmed off the old limbs. Looks a little rough now nut at least it is a bit more compact for relocating. The tree now has too many limbs and some will be thinned out. Bottom to top: Warren, Harrow Delight, Tyson, Shenandoah, Unk Asian, Potomac, Harrow Sweet, Clark’s Small Yellow, Frost, and three Korean Giants.
Are you for sure moving then Bill? That’s a tough decision and I dread the day when we have to make it. I just wish I could find someone who wants a charming old house with demanding trees, too much sidewalk and lawn, a rudimentary blacksmith shop in a garage that needs work and a tiny bake shop in the basement. Oh, and the back porch needs levelled and painted and one of the big maples should probably be removed.
But the fencing is good!
Good luck whatever you decide to do. I hope it works out great for you.
The current plans are for us to move and it might be during this winter. Oddly enough my toughest decision wasn’t the fruit trees but deciding which of my two daughters to move near. Guilt was my issues in that I didn’t want one to think we didn’t want to be near them.
We decided to move now while both are reasonably healthy.
I hear you! But knowing you they were raised to be compassionate and understanding and whichever one you do not live near will understand. Will the move give you more time with the grands (post covid)?
It will definitely give us more time with the grands. My wife is teaching them their core subjects right now and she plans to continued helping when they return back to their regular school. With their parents and my wife being a retired teachers I think I might be the only one qualified to teach them how to get into a little mischief and have fun.
Don’t worry about leaving trees or plants for a new owner. They actually may consider them a liability and may cut them down after a year or two. Just be sure you don’t move things after you put the property up for sale or very specifically spell out what you plan to take with you.
Great advice. Thanks
I only have few remaining to dig/pot and this will be the incentive to finish.
With me not knowing precisely when we will be moving I’m putting the trees into containers that if I need to will be okay for one year. Good thing I saved my larger empty containers. I’m amazed at how many extra trees/varieties I had accumulated. I probably could be considered a plant hoarder. I’m trying to weed out a few varieties with the move but I am having a hard time with this task.
This is a timely subject for me. Once I can set up a deer-proof fence and dormancy begins, I will start moving my containered trees to my property. I will bareroot them and cover root balls in plastic bags so I can start moving them myself. They will finally be in the ground.
Exciting times ahead. I need to let some go too.
Good plan with the bare roots moving. I will consider this method if the timing is right while they are dormant.
This is how I’m moving Oh My a muscadine vine that reached the wire end this year (20’ total). Rolling a larger vine might be more difficult. It looks like a tangled mess but there is actually some logic (in my view) to the way it is done. Hoping to get some late root growth by leaving the side branches/leave attached. My plans are to prune it as I normally would about March of 2021.
Oh My
Potential back yard orchard
room for several hundred (on the right rootstock)
What about renting a spade or having someone come over and spade everything and you can drop it into a pot and move with a dolly into a truck for the long haul? It would probably only be a few hundred bucks if you had all the prep work handled and I feel your back may cost more than that
You can’t see it but a few trees to the right side of the picture will need to be removed so the orchard will get adequate sunlight.
