Transplanting juniper

[Ray_Lawns]

I have a customer that has around 75 juniper plants he wants removed and transplanted to another location on his property and 75 new juniper of a different variety put back in. I know juniper is a total pain in the &%$ to get up and I am just wondering how well they will handle the transplant. Does anyone have any insight on this?

[Smallaxe]

Any common garden plant handles transplants just fine,,, otherwise they wouldn't be that common... if they're going into a decent soil and ALL air pockets are out of the transplant hole, through soaking, then I'd say no different that t-plant of a yew or arb...
How large are they?

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by Ray_Lawns

I have a customer that has around 75 juniper plants he wants removed and transplanted to another location on his property and 75 new juniper of a different variety put back in. I know juniper is a total pain in the &%$ to get up and I am just wondering how well they will handle the transplant. Does anyone have any insight on this?

Good luck with that.

[Ray_Lawns]

The plants are large and well established and i think they are Blue Rug but I could be wrong. I do not want to dig them all by hand but I am concerned a mini ex will damage them to much and there will be no hope for transplanting.

[RussellB]

Personally I wouldn't try transplanting established Junipets. It would be much cheaper to purchase new ones and rip the old ones out with a machine.

[Smallaxe]

Blue Rug Junipers are barely worth the expense to rip out of the ground and throw into a washout,,, let alone transplanting...
You could put in the new ones, but I don't think I would move the old ones w/out letting the client know that this is more of a garbage haul, than it is a t-plant job...
I have yet to see a benefit of putting this WEED in soneones' landscape... Let me know what I'm not getting about this irritation...

[Ray_Lawns]

The customer is a very good doctor around here and he loves his juniper especially Parsoni which is what the new ones will be. I told him in the initial conversation about this project that scrapping the blue rug would probably be the best way to go and we could just put in all new plants but he shot it down. His money is good so whatever he wants he will get. For the record I absolutely HATE juniper.

[Kiril]

Originally Posted by Ray_Lawns

The customer is a very good doctor around here and he loves his juniper especially Parsoni which is what the new ones will be. I told him in the initial conversation about this project that scrapping the blue rug would probably be the best way to go and we could just put in all new plants but he shot it down. His money is good so whatever he wants he will get. For the record I absolutely HATE juniper.

Did you also explain to him that the chances of successfully transplanting them is small? I assume you are doing this by hand? There are methods to increase your chances of getting it transplanted successfully, but it takes time and you may still end up with a high failure rate. But then, if he has money to burn then give it a shot, as long as he knows it will likely be a failure of epic proportions and he will just have to plant new ones anyhow.

[Ray_Lawns]

Yes that was the first thing I said when stated he wanted to save them. I think if they are to be saved I will have to dig them by hand otherwise the roots are going to be pretty much destroyed. I think when I tell him the price to transplant he will open his eyes and see how it will be better to rip out and come back with new.

[ELS Landscape]

I always disclaim transplants

Trim as much as you can off the top. Get as much roots as you can off the bottom, Use superthrive at low levels over a few months and do not fertilize. Also add ecto-mycor. Prep the bed well.