Native Plants

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Wednesday - September 17, 2008

From: Ft Worth, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Transplants, Trees
Title: Transplanting hackberry trees in Texas
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I live N of Ft Worth,Tx is there a trick to digging up & transplanting hackberry trees?

ANSWER:

There is no "trick" to transplanting any tree, wouldn't it be nice if there were? It's hard work, and usually pretty hard on the tree, with not a very high survival rate. Celtis occidentalis (common hackberry) is a native, deciduous tree, with nothing particularly outstanding about it. However, in areas that need shade, it can often manage to thrive where other, perhaps more attractive, trees cannot. Another good thing, hackberry has a high tolerance for being transplanted, so, with care, you should be able to manage it.

This article from the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service Successfully Transplanting Established Trees does a much better job of explaining the process than we could. Since the hackberry is a native to Texas, it will be more likely to do well in its new place than a non-native, which is not adapted to the environment. Here is a page of pictures of the hackberry.