ABSTRACT

Newman, C.J. 1975. Semi-mature tree transplanting—one man’s view of techniques today. Arboricultural Journal 2(8): 324-329.

The traditional technique for stiffening a root-ball is to place it on top of and lace it to a stout board, having first wrapped it with hessian to contain and lightly compress it. The author has now reversed this technique by changing the ‘board’ into a flat circular steel ‘frame’ which is placed on the top side of the root-ball instead of under it. Stout ratchets at 20 cm intervals around the ‘frame’ tension wide terylene straps (like car safety belts) which hug the root-ball to the ‘frame’ and compress it as well. With from six to 24 such straps each tensioned to one ton, even light sands are temporarily compressed to something approaching sandstone. This wrapping and stiffening takes place before the root-ball is moved and in fact the connecting girdle chain at the base of the ball sets up a shear-plane effect so that the ‘framed’ root-ball can be dislodged without the old style labour of undercutting. At the planting site the ‘frame’ is removed only when the ball is exactly set, thus avoiding the second incidence of collapse when the old style board is slid from under the root-ball. The hessian wrap has been seconded to the role of bridging the gaps between the straps, and it is normally removed and reused.