Hi,

I just found this great site by accident and it looks like I will be on here a lot.

I have a question. I have one of those Melanzana fig trees that is about 6 yrs old. This past Winter, I cut off several branches, re-planted and babied them all year and now I have several other little fig trees growing in my yard.

I am giving them all away to family and friends.  I have 1 friend where I have to bring it to him. It is about 3 feet tall now and i started cutting the perimiter to make a root ball. It would be so heavy to transport and I have to take a bus to meet him.

Can I just shake off all the dirt from the roots, soak it in water, wet paper towels and newspaper, and bring it to him so it will be easy to transport? If so, can I do this now in November or should I wait until the Spring? I live in PA and all the leaves have fallen off the tree. If not, I'll just drag the dirt with me somehow.

Thanks,
Joe

If its a Greyhound...I would think you can put it in a box and consider it luggage.....If not....I would wait until its really dormant in December / January and then shake off the dirt and wrap in moist newspaper.

Welcome to the Forum....and wait for more members to send you many more answers.

Armando, Thanks for the welcome and the reply. I was hoping it would be ok to shake off the dirt, and I see that it might be. But I will wait for some more responses as you suggested.

Thank you

The best time to dig bare root is early spring before the leaf buds break. Shipping bare root is pretty cheap. Even for a 3' tree. If I dug a tree now I would want a good size root ball with it. Prob not what you want to hear but I think it would be best for the tree. Would it survive bare root now and stuck in the ground where you are going? Maybe, but I couldn't say it was the best option.

Hi ADelmanto,

What my friend is planning on doing is if I can bring it to him with all the dirt shaken off, he will replant it right away in a big pot with good dirt and leave it indoors for the Winter. He won't be leaving it out in the cold.

What do you think? Should I still give him the root ball?

I worry that it will go into shock. I would think you would need high humidity like a greenhouse. It will want to start growing and just being inside in normal winter light will not be good. If he supplements light and humidity it should be fine, but what you are doing is skipping the dormant stage altogether and tricking it into thinking it's Spring. I'm not saying it will certainly die, but it's not the best.

someone sent me a bare rooted tree also. it had no dirt so I soaked it in a root stimulating solution and it recovered just fine

My understanding is you want to do it in late winter early spring but before the tree starts to bud. You will need to do something to keep the root moist.
"Remember that transplanting causes stress, which you want to minimize as much as possible. If you want to transplant in spring, it must be done after the ground has thawed and before the plant has started to bud out.  If you wish to transplant in the fall, it should occur after leaf drop but before the ground freezes. A transplant will likely not survive if it has budded out in the spring or if it has not had time to become established in the fall prior to ground freeze." From this website. http://gardening.lohudblogs.com/2010/10/15/when-to-transplant-trees-shrubs-and-perennials/

Welcome and I hope this helps..

Thanks all for your comments and tips...

Thanks all for your comments and tips...

I'm in a similar situation.
What if you take a dormant tree, and transplant it a week or so later in a different location?

Fall is my favorite time to transplant. As others have said, bare root would be pretty stressful though if you're planting outside. Last year I did receive several dormant fig trees with soil which upon receiving I bare rooted and immediately repotted in my own mix, but these trees were kept in an attached garage and all did just fine.