How much for 36 pine trees?

[Brian_Gracely]

I thought I heard that it cost Pebble beach about $400k to move that pine near the 18th green.  Not that it matters to them, but any idea how much it would cost ANGC to plant those 36 mature pines?  Does anyone know if ANGC has their own off-site nursery?  If not, I'd be willing to source them some of the azaleas from my backyard.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Brian,

Certain types of pine trees don't transplant well, especially mature trees.

In addition, certain pine trees have difficulty with water from irrigation systems if the water contains fertilizers and other chemical additives.

Climate, soil conditions, and geography play an important part in the ability to just plant trees, especially mature trees.

Some nurseries will provide replacement guarantees, but they may be limited by several specific factors

[Brian_Gracely]

Pat - ??

I know that ANGC has their own weather station, but do they have their own nurseries?  I worked at commerical nurseries and done home construction & landscaping, and I've never seen such large trees be readily available for transplant.  

[Dunlop_White]

This is an article by John Garrity of SI's "Golf Plus" which reveals some of the money figures involved with tree transplantings at the University of Florida's course.

"Many trees will fall in the demolition phase of the Florida course renovation, but the best will be saved, and about 70 have been targeted for transplantation. "This is a good time to prune their roots because the sap is not flowing," says course superintendent Mark Birdsell, examining a 25-foot live oak between the 4th and 5th fairways. "Your tree nurseries are out right now root-pruning their trees for sale next year."
This particular tree, whose trunk is about 12 inches in diameter, is as symmetrical as a Rorschach inkblot, unlike the moss-draped heritage oaks that lean dramatically over various holes. That's because this tree came from a commercial nursery. "This is about a $3,000 tree if we purchased it today, and with installation it would cost about $4,400," Birdsell says. "But we can hire a man and a tree spade [to root-prune] for $1,000 a day."

The root-pruning itself is crude surgery. The tree-spade operator backs up his truck to the tree and encircles the trunk with the spade, a powerful machine with four knife blades angled to meet below the ground. When the operator throws the switch, the blades slice down through the surface roots and join under the tree to create a compact root ball. It only takes a few minutes, and the tree has weeks or months to develop new feeder roots before transplantation. "We'll do some canopy work, too, trim some branches," Birdsell says. "That's necessary to keep the tree healthy when you've cut away the roots."

There are significant savings to be gained by transplanting, which is why Weed's budget proposal calls for 15 days of tree-spade work at $1,200 a day for a two-man crew. "If we can move four eight-inch trees a day," says Scot Sherman of Weed Golf Course Design, "you're talking only $300 a tree." In addition, Weed plans to transplant 15 larger trees, in the 20- to 24-inch range, and spend between $75,000 and $100,000 for 100 new oaks and pines from a local nursery.

"There could be more," says Sherman. "If we save money on contracts, we'll put it right back in landscaping."

[Brian_Gracely]

Dunlop,

Thanks for the great insight.  Considering that trees often have roots that extend out to the same width as the branches, how much of the root system can you usually remove (ie. diameter of the rootball) and still keep the tree alive?  

And the details in that story seem slightly out of proportion.  By that I mean that I'm looking at a ~25' oak in my backyard, and the diameter of the trunk is nowhere near 12"...maybe 6".  Were they possibly misquoted to mean 12" circumference?  

[Patrick_Mucci]

Brian,

Trees are balled within limits of the tree spade, species, age and diameter of the tree.

Transplanting them from one area of the golf course to the other is usually more successful then purchasing them from a nursery due to the almost identical soil and climate conditions that the native trees enjoy, versus the nursery trees.

Some survive, some don't.

[Mike Benham]

 Considering that trees often have roots that extend out to the same width as the branches, how much of the root system can you usually remove (ie. diameter of the rootball) and still keep the tree alive?  

[Dunlop_White]

The tree above: a crew of six can move a tree with a 20-inch trunk and 16-foot root ball from one part of the course to another. There's an equation you use to get the right size root ball. I don't know it! The cost to move a large tree is about $8,000. This is a deal, given that large, old oaks sell for about $50,000.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Dunlop White,

I would add that in addition to the cost, the success rate for transplanting trees of that size, from off property, is not great.

[paul cowley]

knowing the contractor who i assume transplanted the most recent pines at ANGCA [he has in the past] and the clubs resources to keep said trees alive , i would not be surprised if the survival rate in this instance was not 100%........probably at a cost per tree of +/- 3500$ each.

i would be surprised if they did not come from the site or adjoining acrerage.

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