Pseudopanax transplanting

steven.mellor

I have a Pseudopanax ferox and a Pseudopanax crassifolius(a) growinh happily in my back garden but I am moving and I'd like to take them with me. Both are about 12 feet high and the ferox is just beginning to change into it's mature leaves. Is there any hope of successfully moving these tees to the new home or am I better hoping the new owners don'tthink they are too weird and get the saw out. Please help!!

Silver surfer

Be careful.
Once sale agreed you cannot dig up half the plants.
Best to tell buyers that you plan on moving some plants.

Would be very sad if new people just dug them out./felled them 
Go for it...try to move them...with as huge a root ball as you can.
Nothing to lose.

steven.mellor

I've already told the buyers they may well be coming with me. I've a feeling this is the worst possible time to try to move them because the ferox is just starting to come back to full growth. At least with this corona virus stuff going on I have more time than I thought but I've a feeling as you say,a big root ball and enormous amounts of water for the summer is the way to go then hope for the best! Like you say - nothing to lose by trying. I wish I could take everything with me tbh. I have a Paeonia rockii which is absolutely drop dead gorgeous right now but of course big peonies don't move well

Silver surfer

Do you like /trust the new people?
You could explain to them how very special these plants are and you are afraid moving them now will kill them.
(You could start now by cutting a circle round then. but leaving them in situ.
Try asking  to see if you could collect them later in the year.

Butterfly66

Peonies can be moved, it’s an old myth that they can’t be. If it’s large you could also divide it at the same time. When lifted you may find the tubers fall apart naturally. We inherited a huge peony when we moved in but it wasn’t flowering as in too much shade. I lifted it and it fell into six pieces, all were transplanted and flowered the first summer following their move even though they sat in pots for a good six months before going back into the garden.

Silver surfer

Butterfly66 said:

Peonies can be moved, it’s an old myth that they can’t be. If it’s large you could also divide it at the same time. When lifted you may find the tubers fall apart naturally. We inherited a huge peony when we moved in but it wasn’t flowering as in too much shade. I lifted it and it fell into six pieces, all were transplanted and flowered the first summer following their move even though they sat in pots for a good six months before going back into the garden.

Butterfly 66.....Where did Peonies come in to this?

https://www.google.com/search?q=Pseudopanax+ferox&rlz=1C1CHBF_enGB785GB785&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwim3v_tjv7oAhUIXMAKHXtNCCoQ_AUoAXoECBUQAw&biw=1920&bih=937

https://www.google.com/search?q=Pseudopanax+crassifolius&rlz=1C1CHBF_enGB785GB785&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjursqMj_7oAhUSolwKHWdHB-EQ_AUoAXoECBYQAw&biw=1920&bih=937

Dovefromabove

steven.mellor said:

....... I wish I could take everything with me tbh. I have a Paeonia rockii which is absolutely drop dead gorgeous right now but of course big peonies don't move well

@Silver surfer ... see the OP’s follow up post above. 

@steven.mellor a recent Gardeners World (could even have been last Friday) featured paeonies and discussed moving them successfully. 

Silver surfer

Oops..sorry Butterfly 66  ..missed that.
Thanks Dove.

steven.mellor

thanks for all the help chaps. I think I'm going to try to pot up the Pseudopanax in a couple of monster pots I have and I might just do the same with my Paeonia. I grew it from a seed and at the moment it has about 25 flowers on it, each one at least six inches across. You can imagine what it looks like. I'll have to wait until it rains though- the ground is like concrete where it lives. Nothing ventured,nothing gained. At least when we agreed the sale it looked like a bunch of dead twigs so the buyers have never seen it.

steven.mellor

In case anyone ever needs to do this - Pseudopanax have RIDICULOUSLY small footballs for the size of the plant, only about 2 feet across so they popped out dead easy and are actually growing better in the pot than the ground because they are getting more water.