Collecting an American holly

[J Carlton]

So I think this might be the first thread I have ever posted. Probably should have made an account long ago and asked way more questions during the past. I mostly only collect from wild for my trees. Which I’m sure a lot of you kno, comes with its own set of stipulations. I live in central North Carolina, which tends to have its own climate, that is mostly indecisive about which season it wants to be in. Out at my brothers place there’s a short American holly tree in the woods by the driveway, it’s probably 3 or 4 feet tall, but very limby instead of dense like they usually are, with a cool trunk line already. When would be a good time of year to dig it up? Also, should I trim it while it’s in the ground and let it heal before collecting? I’ve lost more trees I collected than not, but I really want to give this one the best shot I can, so any intel would b highly appreciated

 

[sorce]

any intel

Welcome to Crazy!

Get yourself some.."what are the roots doing" Intel.

Thats all I got for a waxy leaved bush, ceptin fer since it's a waxy leaved bush, you can probly dig it in Summer.

Summer tends to be a good season.
Where Spring may be Winter again.

Sorce

 

[Forsoothe!]

By all means, trim it before you dig it. It has a whole root system to replace whatever you remove so you can get away with murder. If you took a couple years to create the architecture that you want before you dig it, so much the better. And, shovel pruning the roots once or twice also helps grow some new roots interior to the existing, unfettered long roots. The longer the prep time, the better, if you have that luxury and the patience.