Hi everybody,

I would did it up now, root prune it and transport it.  I would not prune the limbs until it goes dormant.  just my 2 cents.

On my opinion he just can trim little bit side what go on drive way and live it alone...

If it were mine, I'd wait until next Jan./Feb. when it is dormant. It would stress it greatly if it's moved now. Our weather is going to be very hot in a few weeks, before it has time to reestablish itself. By all means, cut it back half way to reduce stress if you decide to move it now.. Any fruit formed will probably drop due to the stress anyway. Give it plenty of water until it reestablishes itself. Maybe even give it some shade with some row cover. Even an old window screen would help.Just my 2 cents.

I feel like Tim's is the best advice I've seen so far, other than "leave it alone". 

You never transplant during spring/summer seasons if you can help it, only transplant established plants at the end of fall to mid-winter, when the plant is entering dormancy.  If you try to transplant now, the damage that you will inevitably do to the roots will leave the plant unable to supply enough water to the leaves, which are well developed and need a lot of water.  The plant will go into transplant shock, drop all of its leaves, and some plants won't ever recover.  This is not a concern if you transplant during dormancy, because there is no foliage to support.

If it were my choice, I would wait till early January (no risk of warm-ups like you have in late fall), dig that joker up starting about 18" from the trunk and toss it in a suitable pot or its new in-ground location.    The tree will be fully dormant, so it won't have leaves to pump water to, and it can focus on root production before the new leaves come in.

Because this tree looks like it hasn't been pruned very well, and could have a really interesting form, I would probably cut any branches off that aren't "desirable" to the shape - but I wouldn't do this for any reason but aesthetics, since it looks like it's never been pruned. 

I also wouldn't touch anything larger than 1" in diameter when pruning, just out of personal preference (takes forever to heal, looks bad until it does).

If you absolutely must dig it up now to save it, prune it back heavily, dig up as much roots as you can get your hands on, repot it, bag it and put it in a shady location with lots of indirect sunlight (no direct sunlight, period)

Well so far I fully agree with two of the posters here!

If you HAVE to do it now, sooner is better. Take as much rootball as is humanly possible, remove most of the leaves, prune it back, shade it, mist it, and hope for the best. If you can wait, do it when it is dormant.

Thanks Jon

Cecil,

The tree I moved was much larger than this one.  I would think you can leave the tree alone until you are ready to move it.  For Conroe, I would move it once it goes dormant using this (or a similar) procedure:

• If you need to prune the top of the tree for winter protection or form, do so.  Otherwise, there is no need to prune the top of the tree for transplant.
  
• Using a ditch spade, cut a ring around the tree.  I would get at least a 2' diameter root ball, but remember, you have to move or bare-root whatever you dig out.
• Plant in new hole, mulch and stake.
  
• Water every 3ish days for the first two weeks, once a week there after.
• Cover if cold weather comes.

Thanks James,

Great thread because I'm thinking of planting near my  driveway too.  It won't be as close though.  But it does give me a sense of what it will look like more mature. 

Thanks,
Dean

@Dean, here is a "mature" tree looks like:  http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/show_single_post?pid=1267999377&postcount=15

Granted, it may actually be two or three trees, but generally, these trees can get that large in 15-20 years+.

Important to consider - I doubt the tree pictured next to the driveway is more than 4-6 years old, unless a very slow grower.

Yeah, that was I was thinking about when I put mature.  I went back and added "more mature".  Maybe if I can train mine a little it would be more feasible.