We went to France about 3 years ago and brought back some Walnuts. I stored them but they went all mushy and horrible. I chucked them on the garden hoping that the birds would like them but one of them grew.
I now have a lovely little sapling but it's growing underneath my monkey puzzle tree and right behind a retraining wall so needs to be moved.
I'm guessing the best time would be in the autumn or spring but is there anything else i can do it help it re establish it in another part of the garden?
I would hate to lose it but if left where it is i know it's going to bring down the wall, which is about 5ft high. :/
The height of that wall is unimportant, what's the height of your sapling, how old is it? If it's less than three years old move it now. First prepare a new home. Next water your sapling well so it's easy to dig and so an earth ball will hold together. Dig it up carefully with a large earth ball and place it on a piece of burlap and lift the entire thing into a bucket for easy transport. Bring it to its new home and plant it a little higher than the depth it was growing. Mix organic matter with the fill soil and fill the hole in loosely (do not tamp the fill). Water well and tap the sapling to release any air bubbles. I don't know where you live but I would fence it to keep the critters from having it for a midnight snack. Keep it moist but don't drown it, plant roots need to breathe. By transplanting now it will be well established by winter. Of course odds are you will be planted before that tree produces nuts.
Thanks for the advice, We live in Yorkshire, UK. I'm going to transplant it about 20/30ft from where it is now at the top of the garden, the growing conditions there will be roughly the same as where it is at the moment but a little more sunnier (not having the cover of the Monkey Puzzle tree). Not sure about digging it up with a good root ball though as it's so near the wall that the roots will have by now grown through the walls backfill but i can only give it a try. It's got 2 choices really, live or die but i wanted to give it the best possible means to live and thrive :)
As usual, Shelly, a.k.a. Brooklyn1, is full of manure. Sorry about that, but we have no control over who posts here.
Wait until the tree is dormant (no leaves) before you transplant.
Choose the Place to Transplant ? Look up to make sure the tree will not grow to bump into anything. Walnut trees grow up to 75 feet tall with a canopy spread (span of the branches) also of up to 75 feet. ? Check the soil. Walnuts prefer drier soils that are loamy (sand, silt and clay-based) and light. ? Consider your hardiness zone. Most likely, if you are purchasing a walnut tree from a local nursery or digging it up from your own backyard, you are in an appropriate zone. But, keep in mind that black walnuts prefer zones 4 to 9 and English walnuts prefer zones 5 to 9.
Dig Up the Tree ? Start your transplanting project in the early spring before the tree buds or in early fall after it has lost its leaves. ? Measure the diameter of the trunk. For every inch of diameter of the trunk make sure the root ball is a foot in diameter. For example, if the trunk is 1.5 inches in diameter, the root ball should be 1.5 feet in diameter. ? Use your shovel to mark out a circle around the tree with the necessary diameter. ? Dig out the tree, keeping as much soil in the roots as possible. Cut roots cleanly with your shovel as necessary. ? Wrap the roots in damp burlap and store in your wheelbarrow. For best results, transplant your walnut tree in the same day.
Plant the Tree ? Dig a hole three times the size of the root ball in the spot you would like to relocate your tree. For example, a 1.5-foot root ball requires a hole dug with a 4.5-foot diameter. ? Use the wheelbarrow to move the tree to its new home. ? Remove the burlap and insert the tree into the hole. ? Cover with dirt, adding more dirt as necessary to fill the hole.
I suggest you use a spade instead of a shovel. A shovel is really not made for digging; it has an awkward angle between the handle and the blade if you want to thrust the blade vertically into the ground.
For larger trees, some suggest starting now by digging three, evenly spaced trenches at the edge of the proposed root ball. Each trench is
1/6 of the circumference of the root ball. You dig down to the depth of the proposed root ball and then fill in with coarse sand. A few months from now, you then complete the digging of the root ball along the same circumference. In the meantime, severed roots from the first digging will have healed and sent some new roots into the sand. Thus, the moved tree will not have all of its root system traumatized at the same time. I have never moved a tree, so I don't know the worth of this suggestion.
I have also seen a suggestion that the new planting hole be twice the diameter of the root ball but not any deeper. By not making the hole deeper, you don't have to worry about the tree settling, which would create a ponding area during rains. I have used this suggestion for planting shrubs and very young trees and have been satisfied with the results.
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