I need to move a small lilac bush . Can I do it now? I live in NY state?

Answer 1

Wait until after the last killing frost, about mid May. (Hopefully, there won't be anymore snow storms nor frost like we had the other day. We're about to be hit by a storm with snow, rain and damaging winds from Sunday through Monday.)

Answer 2

If it hasn't started to bud yet you can move it now. If it has buds, wait until after the blooms are finished.

Prune it well back and dig it up with a good soil ball attached around the roots. Dig the new spot a lot larger than you need and put lots of peat mixed with a good garden topsoil in the bottom, which will help to hold moisture. Put the rootball into the hole, pack the soil in around the ball and mound up around the trunk of the bush but create a "moat" around the edge of the hole. Fertilize with a high phosphorus/potash content (the last two numbers) for good bottom health and to reduce shock, but also to help top blooms if it hasn't bloomed yet.

Good luck!

Answer 3

If by "small" you mean probably with a rootball that you can easily get out of the ground without distrubing any of the roots or the soil to which they are attached, any time is fine. If you don't expose any roots to air or cut any in the process of lifting and replanting, no plant will be likely even to notice that it's been moved, unless you shift it from full shade to full sun (where its leaves and perhaps even its bark are likely to suffer sunburn), from a cool spot to a hot spot (which will cause the plant to wilt until it adjusts to the higher temperature), or from a moist location to a very dry site (which will cause wilt from an unaccustomed reduction in moisture).

The next consideration should be soil. Is the soil where you want to relocate the bush workable right now? Not frozen or still gooey with winter's deep moisture? Soil in the new hole must be loose and soft and well broken up, so you can properly get the plant back to its original depth and tuck loosened soil in around the rootball--again, to keep off air. Gooey soil will gum up your shovel and roll into balls, and, worst of all, won't crumble into fine grains that can be sifted around the lilac's roots. You also need to be able to cleanly dig around your bush, so you can tell where its roots are, which is quite difficult in wet soil.

If your lilac is large enough to have a rootball greater than about a foot in diameter and depth, it should be lifted before it begins to leaf out, so that it will be able to begin regenerating roots that can absorb water before it becomes fully loaded with thirsty leaves. Since this spring's temperatures keep swinging from unseasonably warm to freezing and back, it might be best to move the bush now, sticky soil or not.

To help counter wet soil, dig a hole about a foot wider than you expect the rootball to be, and 18 to 24 inches deep, with vertical sides and a flat bottom. If possible, remove all the soil to a place where you can spread it to drain and dry a bit. When it's a bit less gummy, mix in peat moss and vermiculite, or a good, light potting soil, to help absorb excess moisture and enable you to break the mixture up until it has no lumps and will just barely retain its shape when squeezed into a ball in your hand. Do not mix in more potting soil or peatmoss and vermiculite than about half the amount of the damp soil, or the resulting mixture, when put around the relocated plant, will dry out so quickly that you'll have difficulty keeping it moist enough to support the health of your lilac.

When the hole and soil are ready, cut straight down all the way around your bush, making the largest rootball you think you can handle. Then begin cutting under the bush, again as deeply as possible, to try to avoid cutting roots. Hint: The above-ground size of any woody plant, shrub or tree, is usually about the same as its subterranian size. If you haven't hit any roots by that time, you can gently crumble away a little soil at a time, to help make the rootball lighter and easier to handle, until you begin to see the tips of roots.

Take the bush straight to its new hole. Add below it enough soil to raise it to the same level as it originally grew, make sure it's standing vertically, then tuck more soil in to fill the hole. Mulch deeply, 3 or 4 inches, but do not put mulch against the stems.

Water deeply, immediately; add root stimulator to the water if you've cut or broken any roots, to help speed repair and replacement growth. You can add enough water to practically make the hole soppy, which will help to settle the loose soil firmly against the rootball, so no air can reach the roots and allow them to dry out.

Then just keep the bush well watered for the rest of this year. It needs at least an inch of water or rain per week until it goes dormant in the fall.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Yes, now before lots of growth starts. Where I am, our lilacs have already leafed out and bloomed.

Answer 5

You should not move your bush in the spring. This is the worst time that you could possibly pick to move it. You should move it in the fall after it has quite growing.

Answer 6

yes before it gets hot so that the bush have a chance t get use to its new home,don't forget to use a good starter fertiizer and water every day for the first week then every other day the second week then gradually back off

Answer 7

i would wait a lil longer. i'm in ohio and they r calling for 3-5 inches of snow. if we get it u 2 will probably get it.

Answer 8

Yes you can. prune it when its replanted