Moving an apple tree

[Spreckly]

We have a Worcester Pearmain (sp?), apple tree, which has been planted for just over eight years. It is in the wrong place, banging into the hen run, crowding our other shrubs, and we have decided to move it, in the back end. Has anyone else ventured to do so? The tree is about eight feet in height.

[Totally Scrambled]

If you are going to move it then you should wait until Autumn when all the leaves have dropped and it has gone dormant.
Before uprooting the tree prepare the area you want to plant it it making sure the is 3 or 4 times the diameter of the root ball, then mix in some good compost/well rotted manure into the soil you have dug out. You will have to guesstimate the size and possibly adjust it once you've got the tree out and can see how big the root ball is.
You should try to dig around and down so that you get a good proportion of root ball and, if you can, wrap it in something to hold it firm.
Place it in the hole so that the soil will be at the same depth it was originally at and then place a supporting stake so that it doesn't pierce the root ball. Remove the tree, drive in the stake firmly and then replace the tree. Now you can fill the hole with the soil you removed and mixed with compost and firm it in as you go until it is just slightly proud of ground level.
Give it quite a hard pruning either before you move it or once planted and make sure that it is well watered, especially during dry spells for 2 - 3 years so that it can establish well.
Some people don't let it fruit in the first season so that it puts it's energy solely into rooting well.
Hope that's a bit of help.
Dom

[Spreckly]

Thanks for the extensive advice Dom. We will refer to it when we do move the tree. Haven't decided where to put it yet.