Transplanting Pt II

My previous successful transplants: 3’ hophornbeam and 4’ paw-paw. The former was small enough and young enough (<1 year since bare-root planting) that I was (apparently) able to easily get the entire root ball. The paw-paw had actually been in the same spot for about 3 years after planting from a container so I’m sure roots were lost. And I moved it during the height of the summer. But I learned and watered it heavily in the preceding weeks (and after). And I picked a cool day to move it. I did prune afterwards although I’ve read conflicting things about this. Digging was awkward as I couldn’t approach the tree comfortably from all angles. Nevertheless it seemed to being doing well in the 2-3 months prior to dormancy. We’ll see if it survives the winter.

My previous failures: A 8-12’ willow oak (way too big for me to even dig out, much less move) and 2’ willow oak (!). The 2-footer was so small I was overconfident and dug it out on a lark. I didn’t dig deeply and severed what appeared to be a tap-like root. And I didn’t water first and all of the dirt fell away from what was left of the root. The seedling either went into shock or just died. I felt like a noob after that.