Moving trees!

[badhorsey]

I have two trees, apple and pear, which I wish to move to another location. I'm not sure how old they are (they've been in my custody 25 years and were quite tall and giving fruit then).

How easy is it to do this? Are there specialist companies who can cater to my arborial needs?

[Figi]

I would say that the chances of successfully moving trees that old are pretty remote!

[alan30]

The success depends on a number of factors including the health of the tree, the soil type and access for equipment. I have successfully moved mature trees over 50 feet tall with specialist equipment. Generally cheaper to buy a large tree from a specialist nursery. If you want to consider it further then there are a few specialist companies around. The most well known is probably Civic Trees based in Tring now part of the Glendale group. Another name is Practicality Brown based at Iver near Slough. Nature First based near Gloucester.
http://www.civictrees.co.uk/
http://www.pracbrown.co.uk/home.htm
http://www.naturefirst.co.uk/index.htm

[RATTER15]

It can be done but needs to be done over two or three years.

You need to prune the roots back bit by bit over 2 or 3 years to encourage new shorter root growth so that when you finally lift the tree it will still have plenty of healthy roots when you cut off the big old roots, failing to follow this method will almost certainly kill the tree