moving an old apple tree

[Bren]

Could an old apple tree be moved, its about 20 years old its about 5/6ft high on a dwarf root stock?.

Thanks for any help.

[Pa Snip]

Back in 1958/9 when I was 10 or 11 (yes I can remember that far back) some old houses were being knocked down for redevelopment. I 'rescued' a apple tree that must have been a similar age to the one you ask about.

It was definitely winter time because I well remember how cold I was trying to get into the hard ground. It stood about 5ft tall at that time. Had no idea what I was doing but I dug as wide as I could around it and got as much root as I could out, some main root I had to chop off otherwise I couldn't have carried it home.

Father looked at it, said its far to old to survive a move, but I insisted we try we dug a hole flooded it with water and stuck it in.

For many years my father had to eat his words along with the bountiful crop that tree gave us until the late 80's

No idea what variety it was but it really did reward us.

If you do decide to go for it
Dig wide and get some well composted manure deep in the hole, not too much, firm it in, stake it with a deep stake and water it well.

Good luck

[robo]

Some years ago when we where first married my father in law asked me to go around to his house and cut down an Apple tree he thought was getting a bit big it turned out my wife had planted it as a pip when she was a small girl , me being sentimental decided to dig it up and carry it to our house and replant it we lived around three quarters of a mile away the tree was around twenty five feet tall I was a lot stronger then than I am now but we both survived until around five years later when my wife decided it was getting too big, it can be done

[Shallot Man]

Bren. You have nothing to loose. It lives or dies. Would suggest though you dig well away from the roots. Give a good watering. Try and work an old sack under it prior to moving. Have more than one person. Take as much soil as you can with it. Best of luck.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Bren, it will be fine..... years ago they used to dig round them to cut through the roots, (root pruning) as this was meant to cause more fibrous roots which led to a heavier crop of apples. They also used to put flag stones down under wall planted trees, too stop the main roots going down.
Of course with dwarf root stock on most fruit trees these days, it's not necessary to do these things.