Question: I am planning to move in the next few weeks, and if possible, I would really like to take some of my plants with me. I have a couple of palms, including Sago palms, and I have heard palms in general are not too bad to transplant because they have relatively small root balls.
The other things I would like to take with me is a 5-foot-high grapefruit and a nectarine tree that is about 7 feet tall. Both have been in the ground for about two years. From what I have read on the Net, I needed to have dug around these trees a minimum of two to three months ago to move them. I do not want to risk killing the trees, so if they definitely won't live if I transplant, then I will leave them.
The palms really don't have small rootballs unless they have been watered with drip irrigation close to the trunk and not surrounded by other plants that are irrigated.
Palm roots will spread long distances if there's water available. However, a good time to move palms is late spring and during the summer months. The worst time to move them is late summer, fall and winter.
I think you are safe moving the palms and the Sago, but I would forget the others.
The Sago palm will probably go into quite a bit of shock and most likely lose all of its fronds.
The central bud will stay alive provided it is protected. From this central bud, the new fronds will emerge and make a full plant again.
Avoid putting it in hot, direct sunlight after you move it until it gets re-established in the soil again.
With the exception of palms, most plants are at high risk right now, as we are entering the heat of the season.
Digging plants from their places of establishment by cutting their roots off is a terrible shock this time of the year.
This type of transplanting really requires good gardening know-how and technique. An even better time to transplant them would be in the fall.
Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.
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