"Collecting" my Yews and Privets twice?

[boonefrog]

Long time lurker, first time poster, so here goes: I had an opportunity to collect 10 or so Yew and Privet hedges back in August/Sept this past year. At the time it was my first collection so they didn't go too terribly well (i.e., I didn't leave much root ball at all; the dry dirt just kind of fell off and was left with very few feeders). All well and good, so I put them in the ground in my back yard to recover for a couple years and chopped them back fairly heavily commensurate with the amount of feeder roots they lost(leaving 20-30% foliage on yews and next to none on privets). Some of the privets already started to put out new growth within weeks.

Fast forward to today. Everything is still dormant but it's starting to like like we'll be moving out of our house December/January, (a time when it's quite cold here in CT). So I'm wondering if it would be best to:

1. "Re-collect" them now before they break dormancy, carefully preserving root system, put them in grow boxes, and pamper them to let them get established, grow and hopefully have their roots get used to the gradually chilling temps out of ground by end of fall
2. Leave them in, only do minor prunes to make sure energy goes to the right places, and dig them/put them in grow boxes in December/Jan once they're back in dormancy and just hope it's not too much of a shock to the roots.

Thanks for the responses, pics attached.

 

[sorce]

You can probly pop a privet or 2 out for S&G but the yew should stay...
They say they need at least 3 years to recover.

Welcome to Crazy!

Etiquette? What stinking etiquette?

Sorce

 

[boonefrog]

They say they need at least 3 years to recover.

But since I don't have 3 years - which of the two options? Were you saying leave them in as long as I can regardless and take them out last minute before I move? Thanks!

Side note: Popped one of the less healthy-looking privets out soon after posting this and it had a wonderful little root system developing. Potted it up and will post pics when less busy.

 

[_#1_]

Privets ( found Goji as well ) have very high self preservation tendency. I collected mines February last year and it went through freeze thaw many time with pretty much no protection and it did great.

Might as well just dig and move them now. They won't care a bit.

I would dig a couple inches further out from the root ball of the yew and burlap it as tight as possible for the transport.

 

[boonefrog]

Might as well just dig and move them now. They won't care a bit.

I would dig a couple inches further out from the root ball of the yew and burlap it as tight as possible for the transport.

To clarify: you think dig the yews now as well? I'm pretty set on potting the privets in trainers at this point. Most worries about which of my options will do least damage to the taxus...

 

[_#1_]

Yews are one of my favorites but I have no experience in collecting them so I can't give you any useful advice. I think @just.wing.it have some knowledge on their behavior.

If I where you I'll move the privets now and wait on the yews. That way you'll have a game plan and prepare ahead with the necessary tools and place to put it.

Oh, and those are some pretty nice raw materials to start with! I'll post up my 2 1/2 privets when these dang snow melts. Another nor easter this week

 

[boonefrog]

just.wing.it ...appropriate username, can't wait to hear their response! And yeah they are good material, at least 50% of em (and the pics don't do them any justice), rest are practice

Also wtf with these nor'easters?! I moved here from NC a year and a half ago and it was one of the worst decisions of my life - weather being the half of it

 

[sorce]

But since I don't have 3 years

Sorry I missed that...eeee!

Put your return the following spring to fetch them in the contract!

Hey, what

They say

Ain't always right anyway!

@just.wing.it did keep one successfully in a half barrel I believe....
But Colanders, boxes. .....

If you remember where the roots are you stand a good chance to dog then up pretty safely.

When?

Don't discount during summer dormancy.

And During a waning moon For Sure!

Sorce

 

[just.wing.it]

I have not collected any yews...I do have one that I'll be repotting this year that was collected by someone else a year or 2 ago.
It grew very long extensions last year, so I know it's health is good enough for a bare rooting...

All my other yews are nursery material.
I have bare rooted 3 so far, with success, in spring and summer...
Never killed one yet!!
I noticed that they are not as strong the year after a bare rooting job, I only got minimal second flush of growth on the ones I bare rooted.
They definitely like a couple or 3 years to recover...
So that's my experience with them...

As for collecting, are you planning to go into a container with them once collected, or back in the ground??

 

[boonefrog]

As for collecting, are you planning to go into a container with them once collected, or back in the ground??

Thanks for the reply! So they already went in the ground as per my first post above (which may have been a terrible mistake on my part). They'll have to be dug up again to go in container regardless. Question now is: even though they’ll clearly be weak, should I dig ‘em up now or in ~9-10 months when I have to move?