Evening star., 1952-07-13
Tronsplonting in the Summer
For Best Results Care Must Be Taken
To Prevent Excess Water Loss in Plants
By w. n. Younamon
Gorden Editor

Transplanting, especially dur
ing the heat of summer, depends
to a considerable extent upon it's
being done in such a way as to
interfere the least possible amount
with plant moisture supply.
Moisture is the one media through
which all of the plants function
ing is carried on. Anything that
diSturbs the supply of moisture
will quickly show up in the wilt
ing of the leaves.
In summer almost all of the
factors that take moisture from
the leaves are operating at high
speed. Temperatures are gen.
orally high, winds are likely to
constantly speed the loss of mois-
ture, the days are long, the sun
light is intense, and frequently
the humidity is low. Even estab-
liShed plants frequently wilt under
these conditions and. Of course,
newly set out plants with root
systems reduced or injured by
moving are likely to suffer even
more unless adequate steps are
taken to reduce Transportation.
Some people claim that plants
may be moved at anytime. Such
statements can mean that every
effort is taken to overcome the
natural factors, or, that the
speaker is running a f1rst-class
bluff.
Seasons for Transplanting.
Qualified nurserymen have def
mite seasons of moving the various
kinds of plants-seaSons when
there is less difficulty and the
plants are in better condition to
withstand transplanting. Some
plants go into more or less dor
mant stage during the summer
and can easily be moved at that
season. Iris. as soon as the flower
ing period is past, may be moved
without injury-from the middle
Of June to early September. :.
Peonies go dormant in early Sep
tember and that is the best time
of the year to move old clumpS
or to buy new ones. Oriental pop
pies go dormant in July and can
be easily lifted, divided and reset
without trouble. Spring Towering
bulbs are dormant during the
summer and may be moved with
out difficulty during that period
up until September for the daft
fodils, October and November for
the others.
Many of the broad-leaved and
narrow-leaved evergreens go into
a semidormancy following the new
spring growth. During that period
nature has provided them with al
foliage condition which greatly re-
duces Transportation and they do
not suffer from moisture loss as
do the deciduous trees and shrubs.
Thus the evergreens may be moved
as soon as the new growth is
hardened (stiff. almost brittle) !
That is why late August and early
September are evergreen planting
months. Moving them at that
period will give the plants ample
time to become well established
before cold weather. But even so
they must be lifted with a gen.
erous.siZed ball of earth on their
roots.
Moving DeciduOuS Trees.
Deciduous trees and shrubs
may, likewise, be moved with
ball of earth on their roots, but
1t must be large enough to encom-
pass the major portion of the
root system. Even then, they
should have been root pruned fre-t
quently enough to give them a
compact root system, one that
will f1t within q root-ball. Gener-
ally, most gardeners and nursery
men prefer to move the deciduouS
trees and shrubs during the late
fall. winter, or early spring. when
they may be moved bare-rooted-l
O much less expensive operation
and more likely to be successful.
Most of the perennials and an
nuals may be moved during the
heat of the summer if a large
enough ball of soil stays on the
rootS-that is except the tap
rooted kinds. which do not have
enough f1brouS roots to hold the
soil.
The specific steps to follow in
transplanting during the summer
heat may be summarized as fol-
lows:
/. Soak the root area Of the
plant to be moved thoroughly sew
eral hours before moving. In this
way the roots will have taken up!
full supply of moisture. Also,