Bare Roots Transplanting
Sometimes the old way of doing things is still the best, although old methods can be improved upon using technology. Arbor Master moves trees the way they used to be transplanted, but using modern tools and equipment. Air Spade technology utilizes a supersonic air knife to safely excavate root systems without harming their surface tissue. This means we can dig up much more of the root system than with the heavy equipment tree spades that have become common in the industry. For every inch of trunk caliper, a tree that is to be transplanted should retain a foot of root radius. To transplant a 5 in diameter tree, you would need a tree spade with the knifes 10 ft apart! With the Air Spade, there is almost no limit to how large of a root system we are able to extract. As we pulverize the dirt around the root basal, we carefully remove the excess soil from underneath the root system. Using a surface friendly loader and arborist rigging gear, we than lift the tree from its original home. At that point, the tree or shrub can go directly into the new site or onto our trucks equipped with specialty racks set up for tying guy lines to trees for transport.
As the tree arrives at the new site, we use the Air Spade to dig the hole to proper planting depth. After it is lifted from the truck and lowered to just above the hole with our loader, we are able to trace the shape of the root system to create radial trenches for the stabilizing roots to rest without disturbing their natural growth pattern. As the tree is lowered into place, our crew back-fills the site with soil and water using a technique known as "mudding in" the rootball to ensure the void is thouroughly filled without leaving cavities of air. This helps return the root system to a state as close as possible to just before excavating and ensures that the tree will be much more stable than any newly planted ball & burlap tree during the first few years of establishment. Soil is added until the proper planting depth is acheived, with the root flares and taper of the trunk above ground. Finally, we add mulch as far out to the dripline as possible, 2-3 inches deep and forming a donut in which there is very little material in the middle closest to the trunk of the tree. We do not recommend mulching in a volcano shape or mound around the trunk as this is similar to planting too deep. Stakes may be added for larger trees going into any storm season. You should water your new tree every 2-3 days as needed and every day during extreme drought conditions.
