How To Properly Transplant A Shrub
Everybody wants to make sure that their garden looks as immaculate as possible. However, lawn care can often be more complicated than many people may have thought. While cutting the grass and some other things will be relatively easy, some things are more difficult.
One of the more notable of these is transplanting a shrub. While this isn’t something that you’ll need to do often, it could be a vital part of lawn maintenance. Despite this, you might not know how to do it correctly and without damaging the shrub.
There are several steps that you’ll need to take when doing so to ensure it’s done properly.
Start Pruning
The first thing that you’ll need to do is prune the shrub, which should be done several months before you transplant it. Alongside the branches, you’ll need to prune the roots, although this can be done much closer to when you’re transplanting it.
Depending on how old the shrub it, there are two ways of doing this, spading and trenching. Younger shrubs will need to be spaded, which means that you’ll be able to cut the roots by using a spade.
However, older ones will need to be trenched, which could be more complicated, and which is covered in-depth below.
Dig The Receiving Hole
Everybody knows how to dig a hole, although there are a few factors when transplanting a shrub that you’ll need to be aware of. The most notable of these is that its root ball shouldn’t be left exposed for too long. As such, it’s recommended that you dig the receiving hole before removing the shrub from where it is.
You should make sure that the hole is between eight and ten inches deep and wide, which should be large enough for the root ball to sit in. Alongside this, you should ensure that it’s properly watered.
Trench Around The Shrub
It can be quite easy to make mistakes when trenching around the shrub, which makes it the more complicated step. When doing so, you should trace a circle around it between 14 and 16 inches in diameter.
You should then stick your shovel in as deep as possible to cut the roots. When doing so, you should ensure that the shovel is pointing away from the shrub. This should be done in a circle around it.
Transplanting The Shrub
Once you’ve trenched around the shrub, it’ll be time to start removing and transplanting it, which will require a transplanting shovel. This will need to be placed into the earth at a sharp angle while facing the shrub. When doing so, you should put it as deep as possible into the trench line.
This should then be repeated along the trench, but you should keep in mind that you shouldn’t remove any dirt. The idea behind this is that you’ll be cutting the roots so that you can easily remove the shrub. Once this has been done, you should be able to push it over gently and place it in a wheelbarrow.
Once here, you should move quickly to place it in its new home. If possible, you should have pre-dug the hole that you’ll be putting it in, although you may need to adjust its depth to accommodate the root ball.
You should then gently place the shrub into the hole and make sure it’s centered. Following this, you’ll need to place soil into the hole until the root ball is covered. After this, you’ll need to thoroughly water the shrub, which should be done daily for several weeks.
By following each of the above steps, you should be able to transplant a shrub without damaging it. While this will take a certain amount of time and effort, it should pay off, as your shrub will look just as good, if not better, than it did before.
Author Bio : Sarah works for YourGreenpal and she loves writing for lawn care blogs.
