Kent J
Newly Registered
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:55 am
Location: Monroe, MI

Transplant question.

I may be moving in Febuary and want to know if I can dig my wife's Hydrangea and take it with us. We live in SE Michigan and it's cold, but ground is not frozen that much. Thought was to dig way around it and set in into a fresh pile of topsoil compost until spring and the put it in the ground. Can this be done? or will it just be to much for the plant.

I also have several other perinnials and hostas I hope to take.

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Pineville
Senior Member
Posts: 102
Joined: Sat Dec 19, 2009 5:50 pm
Location: Bucks County, PA

I would go for it- especially since you plan on digging a large root ball, they should be fine. I might be a little hesitant about storing the plants in a fresh pile of compost- if the compost warms up faster than the soil temperatures, your plants might leaf-out too early. Maybe just dig another temporary hole to heel-in the plants and put 3-4" of compost on top for mulch.

luis_pr
Greener Thumb
Posts: 824
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:31 am
Location: Hurst, TX USA Zone 7b/8a

Some hints:

Winter is the best time to transplant as the shrub will be dormant. When you dig up, take a large an amount of roots as you can move since this will reduce the chances of the shrub getting stressed or killed by the move. Minimize the amount of time that the shrub is kept sitting around above ground. Keep the soil moist and select a location with little sun and little wind. Whem moving old plants that have an extensive root system, you will probably loose a lot of the root system when transplanting so consider pruning the shrub weeks before transplant; this way, fewer roots do not end up trying to provide moisture and nutrients to a large plant (above ground). Do not fertilize until June 2010 and try to maintain constant soil moisture as much as possible... especially during the summer since the plant will react to summer temps as a newly purchased plant might (wilting, etc). If this hydrangea has colored blooms, do not be surprised by color changes. Some blue hydrangeas temporarily switch to pink as a result of stress. After a year or so, they will turn to a color that corresponds to the acidity level and amount of aluminum in the new location.



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