I think I need a bigger winch and a better arborist

I'll have to admit, I believe the "Replace It" Guys are right. With all that's been said & figured, add in the amount of yard that will be torn up or disturbed. Even probably part of your driveway. The tree next to the Oak will probably die to, weather or not you intend to keep it. And if you move the Oak, there's no guarantee it will live. You see what I'm going through, trying to restore my yard where we dropped 2 trees.
 
CasterTroy said:
soooo why not just start over with a new one and save so much headache?
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Well mainly because
jeepinmatt said:
I figure it has about 10-15 years of growth on anything I would buy and plant
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This one is already 40-50ft tall and starting to branch out. It was a woods tree 10 years ago before I cleared everything, but its really branching out and shaping up nicely.

paradisePWoffrd said:
Look at one of these:
Water oak trees (Q. nigra) have a rapid growth rate of approximately 25 feet per 10 years, according to the Clemson University Extension. Water oaks reach up to 60 feet in height. Willow oak trees (Q. phellos) reach up to 75 feet in height and are considered rapid growers with new growth of 25 feet every 12 years. Pin oaks (Q. palustris) exhibit a rapid annual growth rate of 18 inches; tree height reaches 70 feet.
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So this tree is probably more like 15-20 years old. I'm too cheap to buy a "big" tree I imagine.

RatLabGuy said:
This, all day long.
Is there some personal reason why you're attached to THAT tree?
For the effort, you could have an equally or more awesome tree within a year's time.
Make that sucker into firewood and plant a new one where you want it. Hell, plant two if it'll make you feel better.

It's gonna suck when you do all this crazy work, and it dies and falls on the house.
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No personal reason, other than its here, its growing well in this soil with the sun and shade that it has (which won't really change by moving it 15-20ft). If it does die, it won't fall on the house, as it leans away. If it does die, I will just cut it down. Cutting it down for no reason will suck.

rodney eppes said:
I'll have to admit, I believe the "Replace It" Guys are right. With all that's been said & figured, add in the amount of yard that will be torn up or disturbed. Even probably part of your driveway. The tree next to the Oak will probably die to, weather or not you intend to keep it. And if you move the Oak, there's no guarantee it will live. You see what I'm going through, trying to restore my yard where we dropped 2 trees.
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No concern about tearing up the yard, as that will happen with construction any. There is no guarantee it will live. But if I cut it down, there's a guarantee it won't.


I plan to do all of this myself, so cost should basically just be a weekend worth of diesel fuel. The biggest challenge will be the actual moving. 30k pounds seems moveable. 100k pounds not so much. But even 30k will be a challenge. I may have to rent a bigass dozer. But I have several neighbors with tractors, so who knows...
 
Here are some pics of it from today with those leaf things on it:
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12oz can beside it for scale:
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rodney eppes said:
Boss man has a JD track hoe, & a Cat 963 front end loader. I don't know if he would help you or what he'd charge, but were close if need a quote. :)
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Thats the kind of arsenal that would definitely get it done. I've ran a 953C before, heck of a machine, so a 963 would be even better. I bet if I have it prepped we could push it with the dozer and trackhoe in about 30 minutes, haha!
 
I guess part of it is just trying it to see if I can do it. I like doing stuff that people think can't or shouldn't be done. I've said this for years: Tell me I can and I might; tell me i can't and I will :D
 
Problem your going to have is the tap root. They can grow as deep as the tree is tall (unlikely here). It you break the tap root the tree will most likely die.

Otherwise the roots are likely only a few feet deep, but at least as big in OD as the branches.

If it's that close to the new house and basement it's got to come out anyway, so might as well try to move it.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
Problem your going to have is the tap root. They can grow as deep as the tree is tall (unlikely here). It you break the tap root the tree will most likely die.

Otherwise the roots are likely only a few feet deep, but at least as big in OD as the branches.

If it's that close to the new house and basement it's got to come out anyway, so might as well try to move it.
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Yeah, it's gonna get cut down and dug out if I don't move it. Do oaks have a big tap root like that? I know I've seen very large deep tap roots on pine trees, but not so much on oaks. I've heard that the roots are approximately the same diameter as the crown of the tree, so that's what I'm basing some of my thoughts on.
 
I know it would be a challenge for sure, but I would ideally want to pick up the tree to move it. Or atleast put it on something to slide... I would be concerned that just pushing/pulling it, even with the rootball dug free, would destroy most of the roots on the "front" side of the tree.

Maybe dig out deep around it, and use the dozer to pick up on the root ball and lean it over onto a truck/trailer/etc with the dozer supporting up the root ball off the ground.
 
Whatever you do - please HD time-lapse video this process
 
RatLabGuy said:
Whatever you do - please HD time-lapse video this process
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Thats a good idea. Whats a good semi weatherproof time lapse cam for cheap?
 
jeepinmatt said:
Thats a good idea. Whats a good semi weatherproof time lapse cam for cheap?
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You can always use a GoPro or whatever and just time-lapse it later removing frames. Just gotta be ok w/ big files.
 
RatLabGuy said:
You can always use a GoPro or whatever and just time-lapse it later removing frames. Just gotta be ok w/ big files.
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Yeah, but I'm not cool enough to have a GoPro. I don't even know if they would sell me a GoAmateur.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Yeah, but I'm not cool enough to have a GoPro. I don't even know if they would sell me a GoAmateur.
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You move the tree and I got you covered on the GoPro.

Oh and by the way, you can't move a tree that size. It will NEVER happen.

Just a little motivation.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
It will get much more expensive a lot faster. But you could use 6x6 to build a box around the rootball and use that to drag it. Just dig a big arse trench and wench/pull it.

I was reading up on an arborist website. Apparently it's all about the root ball.

I can climb it and trim it for you. Earn some of my money back lol
 
Cut replant.....odds are it going to die and most definitely cost as much as a fairly mature tree ready for transplant. Prepping the ground and it actually rerooting are half your worries.

How do you go about compacting the soil for good adhesion? Maybe not the best way to put it. But without seriously burying the trunk or miraculously moving a great deal of intact mass it will blow over.

Sometimes whole mature trees with massive root balls go splat............

Air craft cable guide wires for years to get that size to resettle.
 
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