Dav4
Drop Branch Murphy
- Messages
- 13,099
- Reaction score
- 30,144
- USDA Zone
- 6a
12 years ago, I moved from MA to GA in late June, and I brought my trees with me. I was a decade plus into the hobby and had about 80 trees of varying species and sizes, none too developed but many having good potential. I rented a 26' moving van to move the trees along with some furniture, bikes, mattress and box spring, etc.. I built 2 large benches out of pressure treated wood to be attached to the walls of the cargo area to assist in packing the trees in on 2 levels and used coated wire as a means to tie the pots down to the slatted bench tops. The furniture was tied to the cargo bay walls as well, and everything else was packed in tight on the floor with old sheets and towels stuffed between the pots or walls to lock things in. The 2 day, 1000 mile trip was carried out successfully with the only casualty being a a large Tokoname pot getting chipped because it was tied on top of a bench right next to the wall of the cargo bay and literally rubbed against it the entire trip. Fwiw, the wall had more damage then the pot by a large margin.
Anyway, I found out this past August that we would be moving to the metro Detroit area... YIKES!! It turns out that southern Michigan is, in fact, NOT a bonsai dead zone so began preparations to move my collection again. Having done this once before, I was confidant of my odds pulling things off again.
Nothing will make you pare down your collection then needing to move them a long distance, particularly if you are moving them to a different climate and, more importantly, live at the top of a ridiculously long and insanely steep driveway. 12 years of living on that steep hill had taken its toll physically and emotionally, and I knew I had to significantly reduce my collection to get there without breaking physically or mentally. I reduced the size of my collection by at least a third, either selling or giving away trees that didn't make the cut. As many of you know, I love a good project tree, but even project trees need to watered and fed and a place on the bench, be it in my yard or on the truck. With time constraints being what they were, I needed to unload the trees quickly, so they were priced to sell, and if you were willing to reach out to me and come to my yard to see what was available, you usually went home with some freebies like seedlings or cuttings, or perhaps a project tree growing out somewhere in the yard. I could have used the money, but I was honestly happy to see my work not going to waste. Anyway, I said good buy to some trees I'd been working on for more then a decade along with trees I'd started from trees or struck from cuttings... not easy but necessary.
Now the real fun began! My yard presented significant challenges that needed a fair amount of thoughtful planning to overcome. I had decided on renting a 16-17' moving truck this time, mainly because I was confidant I could not only get it up my driveway but turn it around at the top and drive it down moving forward... not an easy task. Also, the inner dimensions of the cargo space let me re-use the original benches from my first move 12 years earlier... still serviceable after all these years
... and I could re-purpose the lumber from my bonsai garden to build more benches to go in the truck.
Here is my collection pre-positioned at the top of the driveway (the lumber, trash bags and drop cloths belong to the painters who were painting my house)
The next job was to break down my bonsai garden. Again, emotionally and physically hard to do as I had just rebuilt the benches 4 years ago after the snow catastrophe of 2017, but the yard needed to be cleaned up prior to being listed and I needed the lumber. The pictures below show the garden breakdown in progress and you can see the benches made out of the salvaged wood in the first picture above.
After pre-positioning the trees, and breaking down the garden, it was time to get the old benches out of the back yard and up to the driveway. Since buying our house 12 years ago, I built a pathway with stairs along the garden and it made moving those large and cumbersome benches difficult to say the least. Also, at this stage in my life... unlike when I was younger... I'm unable to just physically bull through these situations and actually have to think these things through. Anyway, I had these two 24' ladders laying by the staired path and I used then like the ancient Egyptians might have... fwiw, sliding something as cumbersome as these benches is a hell of a lot easier then lifting it up and carrying it!
Once the moving date was set... kind of... it was time to get the moving truck, move it up the driveway and start packing. I was able to get the truck up the driveway without issue... now for the packing. The old benches went on first. They're 6' wide and 40" deep and I set them over rubbermaid bins full of pots/soil/other heavy items pushed up against the front of the cargo area. They were wired to the side rails of the cargo area, then top was filled with larger trees that were wired in place with smaller trees placed between them unwired.
Once the 2 old benches were in place and packed, I strapped them in to the cargo side rails for additional stability, then continued the pack using the reclaimed wooden benches. I used some deck planking and pine boards screwed to the benches to further lock the upper level pots in place. I also used a length of pvc moulding screwed to the top of each bench segment to lock them all together. the trees on the floor were packed in tightly and the ones in glazed pots were surrounded by old sheets and towels to protect them.
Anyway, I found out this past August that we would be moving to the metro Detroit area... YIKES!! It turns out that southern Michigan is, in fact, NOT a bonsai dead zone so began preparations to move my collection again. Having done this once before, I was confidant of my odds pulling things off again.
Nothing will make you pare down your collection then needing to move them a long distance, particularly if you are moving them to a different climate and, more importantly, live at the top of a ridiculously long and insanely steep driveway. 12 years of living on that steep hill had taken its toll physically and emotionally, and I knew I had to significantly reduce my collection to get there without breaking physically or mentally. I reduced the size of my collection by at least a third, either selling or giving away trees that didn't make the cut. As many of you know, I love a good project tree, but even project trees need to watered and fed and a place on the bench, be it in my yard or on the truck. With time constraints being what they were, I needed to unload the trees quickly, so they were priced to sell, and if you were willing to reach out to me and come to my yard to see what was available, you usually went home with some freebies like seedlings or cuttings, or perhaps a project tree growing out somewhere in the yard. I could have used the money, but I was honestly happy to see my work not going to waste. Anyway, I said good buy to some trees I'd been working on for more then a decade along with trees I'd started from trees or struck from cuttings... not easy but necessary.
Now the real fun began! My yard presented significant challenges that needed a fair amount of thoughtful planning to overcome. I had decided on renting a 16-17' moving truck this time, mainly because I was confidant I could not only get it up my driveway but turn it around at the top and drive it down moving forward... not an easy task. Also, the inner dimensions of the cargo space let me re-use the original benches from my first move 12 years earlier... still serviceable after all these years
... and I could re-purpose the lumber from my bonsai garden to build more benches to go in the truck.Here is my collection pre-positioned at the top of the driveway (the lumber, trash bags and drop cloths belong to the painters who were painting my house)
The next job was to break down my bonsai garden. Again, emotionally and physically hard to do as I had just rebuilt the benches 4 years ago after the snow catastrophe of 2017, but the yard needed to be cleaned up prior to being listed and I needed the lumber. The pictures below show the garden breakdown in progress and you can see the benches made out of the salvaged wood in the first picture above.
After pre-positioning the trees, and breaking down the garden, it was time to get the old benches out of the back yard and up to the driveway. Since buying our house 12 years ago, I built a pathway with stairs along the garden and it made moving those large and cumbersome benches difficult to say the least. Also, at this stage in my life... unlike when I was younger... I'm unable to just physically bull through these situations and actually have to think these things through. Anyway, I had these two 24' ladders laying by the staired path and I used then like the ancient Egyptians might have... fwiw, sliding something as cumbersome as these benches is a hell of a lot easier then lifting it up and carrying it!
Once the moving date was set... kind of
... it was time to get the moving truck, move it up the driveway and start packing. I was able to get the truck up the driveway without issue... now for the packing. The old benches went on first. They're 6' wide and 40" deep and I set them over rubbermaid bins full of pots/soil/other heavy items pushed up against the front of the cargo area. They were wired to the side rails of the cargo area, then top was filled with larger trees that were wired in place with smaller trees placed between them unwired.Once the 2 old benches were in place and packed, I strapped them in to the cargo side rails for additional stability, then continued the pack using the reclaimed wooden benches. I used some deck planking and pine boards screwed to the benches to further lock the upper level pots in place. I also used a length of pvc moulding screwed to the top of each bench segment to lock them all together. the trees on the floor were packed in tightly and the ones in glazed pots were surrounded by old sheets and towels to protect them.
