Larger Than Life

Measurements must be considered when making plans to move a tree, since size ultimately is what dictates the specifics of the tree-moving process. Large trees, for example, generally are extracted via mechanical tree spades or front-end loaders. Smaller species can be dug out by hand and moved without the help of sophisticated equipment.

But what is considered a large tree? Bruce Fraedrich, vice president of research, Bartlett Tree Company, Lebanon, N.J., classifies large trees as those out of the juvenile growing stage that require mechanical means for successful moving.

Perspectives vary among industry professionals, but trees with an 8-inch caliper or more generally are regarded as large, explains Tim Johnson, consultant, Artistic Arborist, Phoenix, Ariz, and president, American Society of Consulting Arborists.

“A caliper is the way a tree is measured, but it is not the circumference of a tree,” adds Rodney Bigham, director of sales, Rocky Fork Co., New Albany, Ohio. “If you look at a tree from the left side and use a straight rule to measure horizontally from left to right, that measurement would tell you the tree’s caliper.”

Nursery standards define caliper as the diameter of a tree in the section 6 inches above the root collar, oftentimes measured in two directions to account for irregularity of the stem, Fraedrich adds.

The author is assistant editor-Internet of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at aanderson@lawnandlandscape.com.