What’s the oldest fruit tree (e.g. apple) you all on here have transplanted? Anyone done 5 years plus?
If you have any pictures that would be great.
I’m just trying to get an idea, as I have a few fruit trees I’d like to take with me when I move down the line.
I kept a Niedzwetzkyana apple in a 5 gallon pot for 4 years, and it was a 2-year feathered tree bare-root when I acquired it.
Pawpaw…I’ve had 5+ in one and 2 gallon pots. Even sold one 20 year old removed from a one gallon pot and bare-rooted and mailed it this spring…I’m told by the recipient that is a member here that it is alive this summer.
Such conditions stunt the tree, though. But I’ve transplanted 5+ from pots several times.
Digging up and moving? Probably serviceberry, but I forget the number of years exactly.
I’ve also moved a 8 year old apricot from the ground bare rooted in February (too much effort…not doing that again). (I was in my 30’s then!)
I planted a Clapps Favorite dwarf pear tree approx 15-17 years ago. Originally there was only a wire fence beside where I planted this tree. Six years or so after choosing this location my neighbour built an 8’ high cedar fence in place of the chain fence beside the tree. To make matters worse, in the time since I planted the pear tree the neighbours trees on the other side of the fence quickly grew to 40’ tall.
Between the new high fence and the neighbours trees growing so tall it now totally shaded out this area. The Clapps pear tree and a 100 year old Bartlett next to it both stopped producing pears I assumed because of the lack of sunlight caused by these new obstructions.
There wasn’t much I could do for the Bartlett tree that had been there for a century other than to give it a bit of rejuvenation pruning, (but it didn’t help). However, I figured at least I could attempt to move the Clapps tree to see if I could get it producing again. This tree was very small and only around 7-8’ tall, so I figured it might survive being moved. A couple of years ago I waited until January to dig it out of its shady location and move it. I dug a three foot circle around the trunk and moved it over to the other side of the property where the sun couldn’t again be obstructed by any changes on my neighbours property.
I knew I was taking a pretty good chance that the pear tree would die after being in one location for so long. I just figured, if the tree was no longer producing because of a lack of sun then what did I really have to lose at this point.
The first year after I’d moved the tree there was still no fruit produced, but it seemed happy in its new location. I figured that being so far away from the Bartlett tree now might have resulted in a lack of pollination. The next year I put a Moonglow pear close to the Clapps I moved and then bingo the pears were happily back again.
Nothing wagered, nothing gained. I may even move the tree again this winter to a new location. 
I moved a Hubbardston non such to a remote part of the yard, then moved it back last year. It was 4 or 5 years old. It didn’t grow much at all the first year, but has rebounded this year and has a few apples. I’ve also moved Asian pears the same way. The trees recovered quickly with new growth but no fruit for several years.
This past winter early January… i dug up and transplanted 2 wild callery pear trees… from the edge of my woods… and planted them out in my field.
They were in the 4-8 year old range (estimate).
Late Feb they started budding and leafing and I grafted kieffer and improved kieffer pear onto them. Transplanted and grafted and have done extremely well.
Thanks all for your feedback, good to know.
I transplanted 229 trees from the nursery bed to the orchard last fall. Clearing the orchard and preparing rows took longer than anticipated. Some of the oldest trees were on G.222 and G.210, grafted in spring 2018 and moved in the fall of 2022. I only lost two of those trees, a Lady Sweet on M.106 and a Nittany on G.890. The larger transplants leaf out later in the spring and put on little to no growth, but next year they’ll be established again and will put on new growth. At the house I moved two pear trees that were 6-7 years old, they were getting shaded out by a western tree line, and they did well.
Well I’m a glutton for punishment, I moved that 15+ year old pear tree for the second time yesterday. I relocated it about 3 years ago from the shady location where it was languishing and producing no fruit. It wasn’t too hard to move it the first time as it hadn’t grown much since it was planted and had a small root system. The pear tree hadn’t really grown any in size since I moved it 3 years ago.
However, it was a lot harder to move it this time around, as the root system seemed much more extensive than the last time I dug it up. Digging the tree up this time, I was rather shocked to find an underground stream flowing right beneath the trees roots. We’ve had a ton of rain this week and the trees root system had grown down into this natural water flow. I had a hard time digging it up this time, but I really wanted this tree located along my newly built fence that wasn’t there when I’d moved the tree originally.
The property line on this side hadn’t been marked, so I was guestimating its location when I first moved the tree. After I’d moved the tree I’d had the property surveyed to build the fence. After it was surveyed I realized I’d miscalculated where the property line was and wanted to move the tree once more.
I’m seriously wondering if the tree will survive this move, as I had to cut out a lot more of its root system than when I moved it 3 years ago. This tree was always quite small and had never produced a decent crop since it was initially planted. Considering the tree was never very productive, I again figured I really didn’t have much to lose if it died after moving. The other factor was that being as how this tree was a dwarf and approaching 20 years old, how much more lifespan did this tree really have left anyways?
I’m intending to prune off a good portion of this trees upper branches next month. I figure this should help compensate for the loss to the trees root system somewhat. I’m thinking this will help the tree recover from the loss of roots as the diminished roots won’t have to drive as much foliage growth in the spring. Is this sound thinking, or is performing a major pruning job on the tree in a month only going to add to the shock of being moved?
This thread is about a year old , but i bet someone is thinking about it. I think about digging up 7 year old trees a few years ago. Now i would cut them down and dig up the new suckers! We know where there are a lot of native pawpaw though we want no part of digging them up. No matter how good the genetics are they are not that good!
Me, it is probably a 6± year old volunteer (it was a beast to dig up where it was) peach tree that had a 1.5-2in trunk. The top dwindled until it died but then it sprouted up from the roots.
[quote=“tbg9b, post:8, topic:56009”]
An update on the second relocation of my 15+ year old pear tree. Basically I removed 50% of this trees upper structure when I grafted Dewdrop onto it last spring. This winter I removed the trees other remaining main scaffold. So, basically I removed all the trees scaffolds and branches over the last 2 winters to promote new lower growth.
Then came the move in January, and I held my breath till the spring to find out if it survived its second move. This tree had me worried come spring, because it didn’t come out of hibernation with my other pear trees. It was a couple of weeks late, but it sprung back to life this spring apparently no worse for the harsh root and upper scaffold pruning it received.
I am extremely happy with all the effort I expended. The tree is now in the perfect location with the newly grafted variety and new growth exactly where I wanted the branching to be. I’m hoping the tree is happy in this new location for many more years to come.
