yes.. there is always if big difference between what YOU .. the homeowner CAN DO .... and what you SHOULD do ...

big machines take it to a whole other level ....

i wish resin would post that pic of the helicopter transplant job again... i have tried many times to google that.. but never found it ...

ken

From ny's Coe estate, which is today's planting fields arboretum....
Already in 1915, theàBoston landscaping firm of Guy Lowell and A. RobesonàSargent (son-in-law and son of the first director of the Arnold Arboretum, Charles Sprague Sargent)àstarted work on the grounds withàthe transplant of two gigantic beeches from Fairhaven, Massachusetts, Mai Coe's childhood home. These great trees, with root balls thirty feet across, were ferried across Long Island Sound in the dead of winter. Only one of the two trees survived the stressful journey, however, but that second "Fairhaven Beech" lived until 2006, when it too finally died.àA new generation of the original treeâÂÂs seedlings are now being nurtured, though.

I wonder if there was a guarantee for the one that died!? Sorry, no picture....
Amazing what you can accomplish while waiting forever on a Disney line....

The big question is, what are the odds of a good outcome? Survival long-term in an aesthetically pleasing state (e.g.: not dying back to a stump, with a new tree eventually arising from a sucker off that stump)?

Phrased another way, it CAN be done, but how often does it WORK?

Richard.

Depends how skilled you are.

The big question is, what are the odds of a good outcome?

==>> and therein lies the rub ...

there is usually a big difference between what CAN be done.. and what SHOULD be done ...

i can jump out of a plane... but should i jump out??? ... lol.. i say NO !!!!

ken

Large trees like these are being moved all the time. Ever wondered how that 50' pine tree on the 12th hole of some PGA title meraculously popped up between one year to the next to change hole par.(just one example) There is a well documented procedure for such. It involves selection , planning, observation, execution. skill, and little bit of common sense.
Do you think a 4' whip will out perform it ?

Some people enjoy the experience of 'jumping out of a plane'.

I found several companies posting videos on youtube of their large tree moves. Wonder what that costs, $50,000?

Wonder how to compare that to a four foot whip.....

Several years ago we tried a give away at work and home. I ordered $100 worth of metasequoias from Musser and got 100 trees. And darn it all 100 started to break dormancy lol. Now if I ordered 50,000 of them (like Musser had that many) would they outperform a single mature tree the next year? Seems a difficult comparison. The big tree has an instant visual impact even if the lil fellas grow more.

BTW, I don't think the giveaway led to any sales but we did get ppl to drive thirty miles for a free tree.

I'm certain there are others, but an excellent nursery in the Lake County area near Cleveland sells many large trees in bare-root condition - including maples, buckeyes, honeylocusts, alders, hackberries, sweetgums, persian parrotias, oaks, elms, zelkovas, etc. - up to 5.5" caliper.

Here's a recent example of what you are talking about, taking place in Louisville KY with a Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Amazing Grace'.

A 58 foot 618 ton Oak was moved in 2004. It is still growing strong in it's new location.

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Pic from 2011
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How cool!