I'm being offered a large, mature white Lilac by a lady who is going to have her yard redone to fix various drainage issues. I've already taken a few other large bushes of various types.

The Lilac was going to be taken by a group of landscapers, who did a nice job of digging a 12-18" deep trench around it, then lost interest.

I would need to cut the rootball into about 4 sections with a sawzall to remove the entire bush manually. There is no room to use any tractors, etc. If I don't take it, it'll have to be cut down.

Has anyone ever done this with any success? Comments welcome!

Thanks,

vince

i would suggest its a fools errand ...

unless you simply like extreme physical labor ...

IF IT WERE ME ... i would spend 10 minutes finding a couple suckers.. simply a trunk with some roots ... potting it.. throwing it in shade.. and leave it there until fall planting time ... as many as you wish ...

rather than spending hours digging a large plant.. dragging it around.. lifting it into the truck.. dragging .. planting etc ...

regardless.. they are near bulletproof.. unkillable with a little aftercare. and if you want to work like a dog.. you go for it.. and have fun ...

i tend to.. after 30 years.. work smart.. rather than hard.. lol .. of course.. it took me 28 years to figure that out.. been there.. done that.. lol ... its simply not worth the work on a LARGE plant .. especially one that makes suckers ...

ken

ps: whats next.. moving a 12 foot forsythia.. that you could root in 3 weeks?? .. been there.. done that too ...

So good to see you over here, too!

Most of the plant has already been dug, so much that all I basically need to do is cut the rootball and load it.

I don't mind the extra work, I consider it excercise, which I can certainly use more of. Good to hear that you think it's pretty bulletproof.

I've got some little ones here too, but it will be quite a few years before they get near this size, 8-9 feet. I'll admit to liking some instant gratification if the plant can handle it.

12' Forsythia? That was last fall, moving it from the SE corner of my lot, where it had outgrown it's space, to a wide open space 100 feet away.

Thanks, Ken!

vince

i will try to remember not to tell you what is too much work.. lol ..

what a hoot

ken

I gave it a solid tug, no give, but the chain was wedged firmly in the dirt now. I unhooked the noose, and with a few good pulls, pulled the chain out, cutting through a good part of the root ball.

I set the chain up again as a noose, and this time it pulled through the underneath, leaving the plant at the angle you see in the second photo. I then wrapped the chain around the rootball, with a tarp on the front and underneath to make it easier to drag, and dragged it around the yard to it's new home. Dug a new hole, dragged it in, unchained it and removed the tarp.

The neighbors haven't said anything. I figure they're either scared to, have no idea what's involved or didn't see it happen.

The Ohio Buckeye tree I mentioned in another post over there now sits where the Forsythia was.

vince

==>>> yeah.. thats probably a fair summation of your noose system of root pruning ... lol .. i would be too

ken

Re the lilac, in case anyone else is wondering, last year I dug a pickup full of lilacs from the yard of someone redoing her gardens. I just chopped the heck out of them and called it good if I got some roots. Of the 40 or so I brought home and stuck unceremoniously in the ground, I've lost one. Instant hedge (well, they need to fill in). They're all budding. Took me about 4 hours of work, total.