arborvitae digging?

There are about 20 10-12 ft tall arborvitae's on craigslist for the taking, free. They are just a mile from my house. Is this something a not too will husband but willing wife can do w/ out power stuff? I only want 5

anastatia, This looks like wishful thinking. A normal arborvitae shrub / tree that is 10 feet tall will take a healthy person one full day to dig up and transport home. You'll have to dig the holes at home as well. You can buy Arborvitae at local nursery stores almost year round for as little as $3.50 to $9.99 for 18 inch to 4 foot tall shrubs. I'll grant you that a 10 foot tall Arborvitae is worth close to $100 but to have to dig for 3 weekends to get the 5 you shrubs you want .... that 's a lot more work than most would be willing to expend. I bought 13 of them 3 years ago at the local K-Mart just 18 inches tall / short ..... they were all in pretty bad shape and we lost 3 to various soil conditions. I paid $2.00 each on clearance. Now they're 4 feet tall. So ..... for $25 I now have 10 of them that are healthy and 4 feet tall. Ask yourself what your time is worth and how much you value your healthy back. Best wishes.

I'm no expert, of course, but i think Photographer is spot on. I heartily agree.

Furthermore (although i'm revealing my cynicism here), i think SOME people who post advertisements like "free wood, you cut, bring chain saw" or "free trees, you dig, bring shovel" are looking to get free labor for their landscaping issues. It's a FAT lot of work to manage a 10+ foot tall tree, even just to cut it down, much less dig it for replanting. This is why people charge for the service. I wouldn't enter into such a situation unless i knew and trusted the people i was dealing with.

I agree with all. When we bought this place all it had was every kind of arbor's and conifers and we sent 3 years with tractors, chains, and 15 years younger to get rid of them.

They have terrible roots and they do go into shock for a while...

Denise

I disagree on the removal - I removed eight very healthy and vigorous ones from my backyard with nothing more than good old hand power - in other words, I pulled them out.

I do recommend, on the other hand, buying them in a smaller and more manageable size. Those are simply too tall to deal with, and I imagine that they would take the transplanting very hard.

Yea, I can't imagine them doing well being transplanted.

ilithiya, I can only wish I had a healthy enough back to pull out 10-12 ft tall arborvitae. I have several mature ones on the property.... nearly 20 feet tall. I pull out hundreds of their babies beneath them in the garden every spring and summer....... they're not quite 1 inch tall. Kelly