Sometime it becomes necessary to move a shrub that has been planted in the garden for a long time but a careful selection of the place before planting a shrub should make transplanting unnecessary. If this operation is an unavoidable must then the ideal time to move deciduous shrubs is in early spring, just before the start of the growing season, but if really necessary you can move a shrub at any time between leaf fall in autumn and bud burst in spring. Most deciduous young shrubs may be lifted bare-root when they are dormant, or small, swallow-rooted or recent planted shrubs can be simply dig up with a large ball of roots and moved to its new place that you prepared. Keep it well watered after the moved.
If it is to move a small shrub, dig it up with plenty of roots and try to take as much soil as possible. Then lift it on a polythene sheet and transfer immediately to the new, well-prepared planting hole. Use temporary stakes to prevent wind-rock until well established and protect with a surrounding windbreak for their first winter.
For large or well-established shrubs it is best to start preparing for the move a year or more in advance. This is what is call to root-ball a shrub. This will reduce the root damage to the minimum. Also prepare the new planting position before lifting the shrub. The previous autumn or spring dig a narrow trench of about 60 cm deep and as large as the branches spread. You can cut if necessary through any woody roots but try to keep the fibrous one intact. Cut under the plant tot sever any thick tap roots at that depth. Fill the trench with a mixture of good topsoil and planting compost or well-rotted organic matter to encourage fibrous roots to form.
A year or more later the shrub will have grown the sort of root system that allows it to be moved safely. Lift the shrub with as much fibrous root as possible, work a sheet of hessian underneath it, tie the hessian firmly around the root-ball, lift the shrub from the whole and transplant it to the new place that you have prepared. Keep well watered.
If you want to move an evergreen or conifer early autumn or spring is the perfect time to do this. Water thoroughly a few days before moving them. Dig them up with plenty of roots and transfer them immediately to their new position. Don't forget to prepare the new place before digging them up.
Transplanted shrubs need the same treatment as new planted ones in order to survive and to establish sooner, although it will take much longer to re-establish than it should and you might even lose them.
