I have heard that in many areas they have super long tap roots and that can make collecting them difficult. I'll be interested to see how it goes for you, but my thoughts would be to look for an area with rock pockets so you hopefully have a collectible root ball. Like many do with pines/mountain trees. Good luck and please update if you collect one(or ten)
Thoughts?.. I was thinking of collecting one in the fall.. but I saw this.. I'm a complete novice but for $10 I thought it would something to try and work with.. it does have a lot Thrones..
If you put it in the ground you will never get it out alive.
Try an air layer, they root very easily. Phoenix gets massive wind sheers and it frequently blows the landscape ones over (no taproot and irrigation). They don't die the root wherever they touch the ground and you see rafts all over town. Digging them will bring you frustration. The first thing they do when they sprout is throw that tap as far as it can go. Then the top grows.