A bank reduction job wanted; turf and soil replaced with stone on a safer incline (for elderly customers) to border the paved driveway. The neighbour's wall behind is unsightly at a certain depth, so an incline of sorts is still required.
The conifers have to remain, but unsure how much soil I can safely scoop from around the base of the tree without causing stress or damage to them? Understand these have a shallow root system.
Only other option I can think of, is to lift and replant the trees once the bank has been excavated to the desired incline, but not sure how difficult or risky that could be, and depending how established they are, I'd guess.
All guidance appreciated Juice, thanks.
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From my experiance with conifers, you will have one hell of a job removing and transplanting as you already know that conifers are shallow rooters, to be honests it 50/50 whether the trees will survive and thats if, you get them out in one piece.
Are they Cupressus macrocarpa 'Goldcrest' ? cant tell from the small photo.
@Chris, yes, conical shape and colour suggests they are Goldcrest. Resized image tad too much!
@Ben, thanks, thought as much!
I have transplanted them quite a few times and they have always survived, should be easy if you leave it until winter when they are dormant. As for scooping soil away around the base i wouldnt want to do more than a few inches, IMO transplanting is probably your best bet.
Thanks, Chris.
why not lay a high kerb or low wall and level it by importing new material. Probably work out not too much dearer will be a much better area and the conifers will be unaffected.
I moved a lot of small ish conifers (50 ish) that were a similar size a couple years ago where we were changing levels. 90% ish are still alive. Just get as much root on them as you can and re-plant them as soon as possible.
Or maybe a row of sleepers to create a raised bed and just lower the rest of the area.
If they have a suffienct root ball they would transplant but if they have been grown in situ from saplings there would proberly be no rootball, just a large network of roots am i wrong ? This would cause issues when trying to excavate around the roots to extract them especially as the trees are planted next to that low dividing wall. The dormat period is always the best time for transplanting medium to large trees to reduce shock, apart from winter flowering trees.
Thanks chaps, you'll see from the other angle there's two slopes going on, the bank and the line of conifers also.
Considered sleepers and dwarf wall but the drive slope is quite steep so would lots of stepping and returns, cost is another factor as ever.
Cheers
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