10/9/2013 4:10 PM
Moved roughly 400 while at another course. The process was extensive. Contractor root pruned all trees in the fall down to 12" at the area the tree would be spaded, they then installed irrigation to all of them throughout the golf course. The following fall, yes one year later, the contractor came in and spaded all trees using a 110" spade on a John Deere 744 loader, installed a basket with burlap and set them back in the ground under irrigation. A few months later, the contractor came in with a boom on the same loader and started pulling them. The trees were roughly 12" in diameter with about a 35-40' spread live oaks and he could only fit one on a semi-trailer at a time. Mortality rate was close to 40% and left a lot of damage throughout the course - cart paths, irrigation heads, other trees, haul roads, etc.... Contractor was responsible for all damage and was required to repair everything. This took another six months.
We were paid roughly $450 per tree. He turned around and sold them for about $7,000-10,000 a piece. He estimated that with his expenses, and the ones he lost, he probably made about $1,000/tree after it was all said and done. Not a bad profit over the course of two years, for both of us. Most of the trees ended up at a new course down the road. I drive by often and they are still making it.
Although these were big trees, similar steps would need to be followed. Unless the trees have special value, or are hard to come by at local farms, it's often cheaper to buy a smaller tree and play the waiting game for it to grow.