Transplanting – Restrictions

Q: We want to transplant shrubs and small trees around Thanksgiving. With the current water restrictions, should we do this in November or wait until March?

A: I much prefer getting transplanting done sooner rather than later. The plants will get some root growth in winter that won’t occur if you wait until March. Disregard getting a big soil mass with the roots. Concentrate on getting lots of roots to come along with each plant, even if it is almost bare-root when you pull it from the ground. Give each plant a gallon of bath water for every inch of trunk thickness after transplanting and apply an inch of mini pine bark chips over the planting area.