Tree mover

[miamicuse]

I noticed across the river a big tree is going to be moved. I have never seen anyone move such a big tree, and it's right next to the seawall.

I wonder what kind of equipment will be needed.

[Palmarum]

Probably a barge and a floating crane or two. It will be a cool operation to watch.

I witnessed a larger Ficus sp. being moved once. They sectioned it down the middle of the trunk, moved it per section, then squeezed it back together and it joined back into a single trunk. It was in a similar situation near a water way, being transported to its new home via the water.

It's great to see them attempting to save it. I wonder what they plan to build there in that spot. I doubt it will be as nice as that tree.

Ryan

[miamicuse]

2 hours ago, Palmarum said:

Probably a barge and a floating crane or two. It will be a cool operation to watch.

I witnessed a larger Ficus sp. being moved once. They sectioned it down the middle of the trunk, moved it per section, then squeezed it back together and it joined back into a single trunk. It was in a similar situation near a water way, being transported to its new home via the water.

It's great to see them attempting to save it. I wonder what they plan to build there in that spot. I doubt it will be as nice as that tree.

Ryan

Wow never heard of splitting a tree and fusing it back together.  I wonder if it can truly become a tree again or just like Siamese twins joined at the hip.

[Palmarum]

42 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

Wow never heard of splitting a tree and fusing it back together.  I wonder if it can truly become a tree again or just like Siamese twins joined at the hip.

For some species it can be done and it does become a single tree again with a seam, until it grows out more. There have been some epic tree moves in history with even more crazy implementations.

Your view above would be a cool spot to set up a time-lapse camera, or make a regular video.

Ryan

[aabell]

There has been quite a bit of news coverage of this - from what I understand it's already been moved, 200 ft towards the river out of the way of a future condo. Cost the developer $500,000 plus a $1 million insurance policy that it will live. They moved it in the fall, I assume they will eventually raise the grade around it or somehow sink it down before they are finished. Seems unlikely that the tree won't suffer from the move.

It's a Samanea saman, I think the Florida state champion. But not a native tree and not even 100 years old. I think most people see a tree that big and assume it's been there forever, a vestige of nature as it existed before we cut the forest around it down.

Not that it's not a beautiful big tree or it wasn't worth trying to save it. By all means, build a park around it instead of a luxury condo. Trees grow pretty fast in Florida though and the next hurricane is probably going to knock it over.

 

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/08/05/watch-historic-fort-lauderdale-rain-tree-on-the-move/

Edited March 29, 2023 by aabell

[miamicuse]

5 hours ago, aabell said:

There has been quite a bit of news coverage of this - from what I understand it's already been moved, 200 ft towards the river out of the way of a future condo. Cost the developer $500,000 plus a $1 million insurance policy that it will live. They moved it in the fall, I assume they will eventually raise the grade around it or somehow sink it down before they are finished. Seems unlikely that the tree won't suffer from the move.

It's a Samanea saman, I think the Florida state champion. But not a native tree and not even 100 years old. I think most people see a tree that big and assume it's been there forever, a vestige of nature as it existed before we cut the forest around it down.

Not that it's not a beautiful big tree or it wasn't worth trying to save it. By all means, build a park around it instead of a luxury condo. Trees grow pretty fast in Florida though and the next hurricane is probably going to knock it over.

 

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/08/05/watch-historic-fort-lauderdale-rain-tree-on-the-move/

Except this picture was taken by me on March 5, 2023.

[aabell]

11 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

Except this picture was taken by me on March 5, 2023.

I understand, I'm just saying it's already been moved, not preparing to be moved. 

Streetview is already updated with the new location:

https://goo.gl/maps/jNis8YqBwNLXDgCn7

[miamicuse]

6 minutes ago, aabell said:

I understand, I'm just saying it's already been moved, not preparing to be moved. 

Streetview is already updated with the new location:

https://goo.gl/maps/jNis8YqBwNLXDgCn7

I see, so this is already situated at the destination.  Interesting and thank you for the info.  A 500k move for 200 feet, that's $2500 a foot lol!

[miamicuse]

OK I just looked at the videos in the link in your post, and it showed they raised the tree with a lot of logs through the bottom of the tree then basically "roll" the tree from point A to point B using giant inflatable ballon tubes.  This is very interesting but it seems the tree roots are very shallow?  I wonder how deep they excavated it doesn't look any deeper than 2-3 feet or may be just the camera angle is misleading.  I agree with you though the test is the next hurricane!

[Palmarum]

The tree was just mentioned on the local news yesterday, on WPLG channel 10...

Clip: WPLG Historic Tree Moving

I think they just need to give it more time to regrow all those roots.

Ryan