Last week a local resident asked me if they could move their old rose to their new house across town. It was a sentimental gift and they wanted to “move” it with them to their new residence.
Every summer I receive a few calls from homeowners wanting to move a favorite shrub or small tree. Sometimes they’re redesigning the landscape. Sometimes they’re selling a house. Sometimes they simply planted it in the wrong place several years ago.
My answer is usually the same. If you can wait until late fall, wait.
But sometimes life doesn’t follow the gardening calendar.
In East Texas, late June through August is about the hardest time of the year to transplant trees and shrubs. It isn’t because of the date on the calendar. It’s because plants are under tremendous stress. High temperatures, long days, and increasing moisture demands all occur at the same time that transplanting removes a large portion of the root system.
The roots that remain simply cannot supply enough water to the leaves until new roots begin growing. That is why newly transplanted plants often wilt, scorch, or die during the summer months.
If waiting until November simply isn’t an option, your goal changes. You’re no longer trying to make the plant grow. You’re simply trying to keep it alive until cooler weather arrives.
One of the best things you can do—if you have advance notice—is root prune the plant several months before moving it. Professional nurseries routinely do this. Using a sharp spade, cut a circle around the plant several months before transplanting. This encourages new feeder roots to develop closer to the trunk, allowing more of the active root system to move with the plant.
When moving day arrives, save as much of the root ball as possible. Every root left behind reduces the plant’s ability to absorb water. A larger root ball almost always improves the chances of survival.
Many gardeners assume they should immediately cut the top of the plant back severely. Earlier in my career, I would say that too, yet modern research is a little more cautious. Leaves are the plant’s food factory and help produce the energy needed to grow new roots. However, if a substantial portion of the root system is lost during digging, reducing some of the canopy can help balance water loss until the roots recover. Remove damaged branches and reduce the canopy only as much as necessary to lessen transplant stress.
Water management becomes absolutely critical. Apply mulch two to three inches deep around the root zone to conserve soil moisture and moderate soil temperatures, but keep mulch pulled back from the trunk. Water deeply enough to thoroughly wet the root ball, then allow the soil surface to begin drying before watering again. Avoid keeping the soil constantly saturated since roots require oxygen just as much as they require water.
Just as important is what not to do. Avoid fertilizing immediately after transplanting. Fertilizer encourages new top growth at a time when the damaged root system is struggling just to keep the existing plant alive. Allow the roots to become established before trying to stimulate vigorous growth.
Of course, moving the plant isn’t your only option.
If your goal is simply to preserve a favorite variety, summer can actually be an excellent time to propagate many landscape plants from cuttings. Roses, hydrangeas, abelia, lantana, esperanza, and many other shrubs root readily from softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings under the right conditions. You’re preserving the exact genetics of the parent plant without risking the original.
Likewise, many annuals, perennials, vegetables, and native plants can be allowed to mature and produce seed for planting in a new location later. Sometimes collecting seed or taking cuttings is a much safer strategy than trying to move a mature plant during the hottest part of the year.
Summer transplanting isn’t impossible. Professional landscapers do it every year. They simply understand that success depends on reducing stress every step of the process.
If you can wait until cooler weather, do it. Fall remains the best planting season for most trees and shrubs in East Texas. But if circumstances force you to move a plant now, protect as much of the root system as possible, manage water carefully, and remember that your goal isn’t rapid growth—it’s helping that plant survive until better planting weather arrives.
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Cary Sims is the County Extension Agent for agriculture and natural resources for Angelina County. His email address is cw-sims@tamu.edu.
Educational programs of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, national origin, genetic information, or veteran status. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas Cooperating.
