Proper time to move a magnolia tree ?

Question

I have a magnolia tree I would like to move to another location in my yard. It is about 3 or 4 feet tall and is about 8 years old. It recently bloomed for the season. When is the proper time to transplant the tree?

Answer 1

NOT in the middle of the growing season, when it's hot, and its water needs are at their highest.  The shock and water loss might kill it.

Best time is in fall, right after it starts to go dormant.  The air is cooler, it is not trying to support a lot of top growth, and the soil itself is still warm, so the roots have time to grow before the next season of growing new leaves and flowers.

Second best time is spring, before the new growth appears.  Not quite as good as fall, because the ground is much colder then.  But still a pretty good time to do it.

Since you've got time to plan - you can increase to odds of its survival by doing it in stages.

1) Using a straight shovel, cut down into the ground around the drip line.  Water well.

2) a week later, do it again deeper, angling toward the rootball as if you're going to dig it out.  Water well.

3) A week later, move the tree.  Water well, and add a root stimulator to the water.

Doing it in succession allows the roots to start regrowing new feeder roots a bit at a time, eliminating some of the shock of having all the roots cut at the same time.

Answer 2

Magnolia trees are very goose and don't transplant well. I would wait till late winter just before spring warm up and hope for the best. I was going to transplant one one time and was going to have a tree spade do it. It was about 12 to 14 feet high the guy with the tree spade told me he would do it and he would rent me a chain saw too because it wouldn't survive the transplant. Yours is small so it may survive. My uncle had one he transplanted and it surly did survive but the tree was stung and refused to grow for many years. Move it if you have to but if it is doing well and you could live with it where it is I personally don't suggest you move it.