Zone 4a - Moving a 7' Magnolia Tree

I have an established Magnolia tree that has been reasonably happy in it's current location for about 5-6 years. It's about 6-7 feet tall. I'd like to move it because (a) it's planted in the partial shade of a very large, very old (100 years?) sugar maple and is growing a little crooked and (b) it's also out of my line of site when I'm working in the kitchen. Yes, poor planning on my part but there it is. I've read that they can be moved in my zone once the leaves have dropped, usually in November.

My questions:
- is moving a magnolia of this size even advisable?
- if so, what are the "best practices" for doing it?
I love it and if I'm going to jeopardize its health, I'd rather stake it to help it grow straight and put in a bigger kitchen window :-)

BTW - About 10 years ago the maple lost about 1/2 its growth when a very large limb (about the size of a medium tree in itself) broke and fell on my house. Another large limb fell down a few years later so I planted the magnolia there assuming that the old maple was in its final days. The only limb left is the one that shades the magnolia :-) Isn't that how life works?

Hi.

I don't now about magnolias at all. However, I wasn't always a Zone 10-b gardener. I lived in Zone 5 for 50 years. If I were you, I wouldn't touch that magnolia until next summer. I say summer because they bloom in late spring and it would be a shame not to enjoy its blooms next spring. But again, I may be wrong. Maybe some other Northern gardeners will chime in with better advice.

At any rate, best of luck with that.

Sylvain.

Magnolias as a genus tend to transplant and recover more successfully with late winter or spring transplanting. The root systems of magnolias are larger fatter fleshier in character than many other species, and tend towards rotting in the wetter winter soil conditions. In MN, that may be frozen solid soil conditions...

As far as blooms go, transplanting in late winter/early spring won't cost you the enjoyment of them, short of rough treatment knocking off the dormant flower buds. I'd move it as soon as you have workable soil, if you must. You don't want to wait till after the new leaves start coming out (usually as the last flowers drop); that would be about the most stressful time to truncate the magnolia's root system. You would want the magnolia to leaf out in response to the new set of necessarily less-abundant roots after moving it.

I also wonder whether you need to move it, after describing the decline of the existing maple. You might think about "editing" the maple gradually, to allow more light to reach the magnolia, and not go through the difficulty or hassle of transplantation.

Just don't let the remaining maple parts fall on it...

I agree with VV.

Since the maple sounds like it's on its last legs, maybe remove the maple to allow the magnolia to come into its own and then plant another magnolia that you will be able to see from your kitchen.

A one-hundred year old maple is pretty much at the end of its lifespan, anyway.
My .02
Mike