Transplantong a Japanese Maple?

[Cassie's China Doll]

Can I safely transplant my maple? It is still very small, and not in an ideal spot. It was already planted when I moved in, but I really want to move it. It looks so sad. What is the best way to go about doing so it stays happy?

[MaineDesigner]

I'm not familiar enough with growing condition in the Pacific Northwest to offer informed advice but on the east coast my practice is to move them only in the early spring before they have leafed out.

[spencejam]

Hello,

This is also a response from the east coast, Boston area. I'm a novice, but my wife, who is not a novice, and I had luck with transplanting ours. We did it, out of necessity, in early November of '05, because we were moving then. I imagine the tree was close to dormant, although it had not lost all of its leaves at the time. Since then the tree has flourished in a damp, partially shaded spot in our yard, sheltered from the wind.

All we did is dig in very deeply, so as not to disturb the roots. The soil we transplanted to was very rich (former botanic garden area), so I don't recall us amending the soil in any way.

Good luck,
Jim

[tarian]

so long as you keep a nice root ball and support it in the new planting site it should be ok
stake it up or wire it down ....JUST KEEP THE ROOTS