When a tree doesn't thrive in one spot, we can try transplanting it to another. Sounds simple, right? Well, it isn't, as host Patrick Murphy explains on this edition of GLT's Grow.
*Curtis from Missouri transplanted a small quaking aspen tree this past fall. Now that it's spring, it doesn't appear to be leafing out. Curtis is concerned the transplanting may have killed his tree.
*Murph says transplanting that particular tree is a challenge, but is not an impossibility. The aspen grows in colonies, spreading below ground by virtue of a network of roots. They're not normally planted alone. They're actually anti-social -- they don't like competition from other trees.
*Take your thumbnail or use a pruning knife to do a careful scratch on bark . If there's green, then there's some life there.
*The aspen is a fast-growing, short-lived tree. Their range is vast and the aspen can be found all over the United States.
*Murph thinks Curtis might have more luck if he plants more aspen trees along with his current one.
*Murph thinks Curtis' tree will make it, but if it doesn't, he should try again with the aspen. It's not an expensive tree, BTW.
