OT: Mature tree replanting

[Dawgg]

So, a local developer is putting in a new neighborhood that will border the back side of my property. The bulldozer guys got overzealous and bulldozed a little less than a quarter acre of mature trees on our land. It's across the creek from our house, but still within view of parts of my back yard.

I talked to the developer/builder/owner and he offered to use a tree puller and pull whatever trees we want from his property and replant them on our property to replace the ones his guys bulldozed. I'm not the litigious sort and just want my view of the creek back the way it was. That being said, I don't want to be bullshitted either with something that's just a temporary fix.

Has anybody here had any experience with this? Have the trees survived? Have some trees worked out better than others doing this?

 

[RocketDawg]

Google "Mature Tree Transplanting" and you'll find a wealth of information. Here's one: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/trees/tgen/moving-mature-trees.htm

I have a feeling that the trees that were destroyed on your property were pretty large, and I doubt you'd be able to successfully move those. If the developer does it right, it could run into some $$ for him. Wouldn't be surprised if he stalls some.

 

[moturfdog]

By no means am I a tree expert, but through the years of golf construction I have been involved in some tree replacement.
The larger the tree the more stress the plant will go through as it tries to reestablish a root mass. A 2" caliper tree will stress for approximately two years and a 3" tree 3 years and so on. If you can wait I wouldn't move any trees until after they drop their leaves this fall.
Cedars are hard to transplant and I have had very little success with them. Maples seem to be easier to move than oaks and Hickories, I wouldn't even attempt.
If you can find some "Tree Gators" use them to help water your transplants. These are bags that secure around the base of the tree that you fill with water which will then leach out over the next 12-15 hours and help evenly
water the root ball.
Hope this helps some

 

[turkish]

They will not survive. If it were me, I’d start by trying to inventory size and species of what was lost and doing some shopping. Take that quote to the developer to start the negotiation.

 

[patdog]

This is what I’d do. He wants to replant some mature trees & by the time they die or you realize they’re never going to look good, it’ll be harder to get anything out of him. You might want to see what your insurance company and/or a forester values the damage at.

 

[trob115]

They will more than likely not survive. I would get an estimate of the damages. Have a number in mind you will accept. If the owner won't budge, you have a slam dunk case in court. He will probably settle with you to avoid that because the law is on your side.

 

[Misfit]

Just so you know, by statute in Mississippi, he owes you double the value of the trees destroyed. Miss. Code Ann. 95-5-10.

 

[af102]

If I have learned anything from reddit, it's that you don't mess with someone else's trees. r/legaladvice has some great threads about people dealing with overzealous neighbors cutting down their trees, and the tree owners almost always get paid. Check out this list- https://old.reddit.com/r/treelaw/comments/8jvjfx/popular_examples_of_tree_law_from_rlegaladvice/

The common advice given in these situations is to always hire an arborist to come look at the trees and give you an estimated cost to replace exactly what was lost. It will be far more money than you expect. If you have pictures of the land before the bulldozer did its work, that will help tremendously.

And as always, get everything in writing.

 

[idog]

He should be insured. Document everything that happens(conversation, etc) bc I highly doubt he is going to take care of you in a fair manner regardless of how he is talking. A quarter acre doesn’t seem like a small error to me. He didn’t have the property surveyed and staked?

 

[thekimmer]

So how is the value of the trees determined?...

Just so you know, by statute in Mississippi, he owes you double the value of the trees destroyed. Miss. Code Ann. 95-5-10.

Surely its not just the timber value because that is not what the trees were being grown for but how do you determine aesthetic value?

 

[The Peeper]

I was involved for years with moving hundreds of trees with tree spades and it can be done very successfully IF DONE CORRECTLY. You have to have the right size spade truck to move the tree you are moving. You can't go moving a large one w/ a small spade, there are parameters. I have a friend w/ few hundred acres that has slowly built a house, lake, barn, etc on and he has moved dozenss of trees successfully around his property w/ a 3 point hitch digger on his tractor and he's strictly an amateur that waters on the weekends when he can go down there.

It is much less stressful on the trees if done in Fall and Winter but that's usually the hardest time to get to the trees and to the new target area because of wet conditions. These are large dual tired vehicles and w/ a big root ball tree (that needs to be tarped while moving it) on top of that your timing is critical. That said, it can be done year round if you have someone monitoring the watering.

There are specialist that can evaluate the value of what your trees were and you should do that because you may be amazed at what large trees are valued at. Then, you can go to him and say lets talk about this. Good Luck

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[TrueMaroonGrind]

They will not survive. If it were me, I’d start by trying to inventory size and species of what was lost and doing some shopping. Take that quote to the developer to start the negotiation.

He is correct. If he offers to replace them, get a landscaping company that insures the trees if you can. Don’t let him plop a tree down and call it finished. They take a lot of work to keep watered, alive and upright. He unfortunately will not be able to correct his mistake.

The biggest tree we planted when I was landscaping was a 5 inch trunk and I wouldn’t recommend trying to plant a tree that large. The root ball was ginormous and even when staked that sucker went whichever way it wanted when a storm came in.