A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs Burning Bush

We have a good sized burning bush in the backyard that needs to be moved. Any idea how large of a root system these bushes have? The bush is a good 4" high and probably just as wide.

Sorry......4 FEET not 4 inches!!!

I moved one that was two feet by two feet a few years ago...It didn't have a large root system...not sure on it being that big though.

Are you waiting til fall to move it?

Was hoping to move it soon.....the fence will be done by the end of the weekend and I don't want it to have to be trimmed to get the fence finished. ...is that bad???

the only problem with moving it now is keeping it watered enough to survive the heat and the transplant shock at the same time.

Yup, with a shrub that large....you take a chance of losing it at this time of year.

<sigh> which is worse....2 dogs destroying it or moving it this time of year. if i keep it there. half of it will eed to get trimmed away and its nice and round.

well then you have nothing to lose----jsut take good care of it--anmd perhaps feed it too.

I miss mine.........I lost it during the heat and droughts last year! Hope you can save yours!!!!!!!

I think I'm going to try to move it on Saturday since that is when the mesh for the fencing is going up. Oy. Wish me luck.....please.

Wishing you luck. Dig as wide as you can around it, do you have some plastic or such so can haul it to the new area? If you lift it, you'll lose root soil. Water it well and cross your fingers.

Well, I lost. The burning bush was just too big and the soil around it just too rocky for me to actually dig it up. So, I had to heavily trim the one side of it, but it looks like it has survived the heavy trimming. From the backside it looks horrible, but I think it will grow back in just fine.