Moving A Cherry Tree

[interele]

We have decided to bite the bullet and move a small ( c 6ft ) cherry tree as it isn't going anywhere in the location we put it many years ago. Knowing diddly about gardening then, we planted it under a giant holly tree so it's now, 15 years later, it's not much bigger and is a bit deformed, and we know only marginally more about gardening now.

What can we do to give it a chance- ie manure, fertilisers etc. We will dig it up as best as we can and it's going to a sunny spot where we cleared some strawberries ( so what ever the soil is - strawberries loved it )

Ta

Mal

[ladybirder]

Hurry up and move it before it gets buds on it. My cherry tree died so can't offer any further advice other than don't forget to spray it against nasty grubs that eat the buds if you haven't already done that.

[woofgang]

Be prepared to do the whole job in one go, take the biggest rootball you can possibly take....HUGE and keep it damp and covered while you work. Dig out a hole that is much bigger than the rootball. Add home made or purchased compost and a micorrhyzal preparation. Bed the tree in well in its new home and use slanting stakes. Water well daily if it doesn't rain and keep your fingers crossed. honestly unless the tree is special I would just buy a new one for the new space and either leave the old one alone or scrap it.

[Toorak]

I was going to offer similar advice. Start preparing the place you are going to replant it in before digging it up and cover the root ball in hessian to prevent drying out. You could also create a shallow ‘moat’ around it once replanted to hold water and decrease the risk of drying out.

[interele]

Any particular sort of compost ?

Ta

Mal

[woofgang]

look for a description like "rose tree and shrub" or tree and shrub planting compost. NOT ericaceous.

[woofgang]

thsi video shows staking a small tree, your stake(s) will need to be heftier but the low slanting principle is the same. https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/staking-a-tree/

[interele]

Many thanks everyone

Ta

Mal

[Chipchopper]

As long as the soil is good that its going into, I prefer not to add compost, so to allow it to get used to the soil its going to live in.

Plant it at the same depth its been growing in and be sure you don't cover the graft mark, assuming its grafted variety.

[bhg481]

Are you sure it wasn't grafted onto dwarf rootstock; if it was it will never grow tall. We bought ours some 35 years ago and it's still only 6 or 7 feet tall.

[Buenchico]

Worth a read, I think:
https://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=72036.0