Transplanting Mature Lychee Tree?

[Fiddler]

My neighbor has decided he no longer wants his rather large Emperor Lychee in his yard. He says he's going to destroy it. I was horrified, and tried to talk him out of it. This tree is very healthy and attractive and has produced fruit in past years, but apparently not this year.
     I told him I'd take the tree and try to save it, and he agreed. It'll be a two-man job to lug it over into my yard. I'm pretty sure we'll have to cut through some roots when we dig it up.
     Any suggestions on how to successfully transplant this tree? Should it be aggressively pruned, or transferred as-is? One of my other neighbors moved a mature mango tree across his yard a few years ago, and it survived, so I figured to give this a try.

[sc4001992]

You will need to cut most of the branches back before you dig it up and move it. Try not to cut off the main roots, the lychee may be sensitive to this. I have not transplanted any lychee or longan, but have moved loquats, citrus, white sapote with pretty good luck.

[Galatians522]

We moved an 8' Emperor tree once. I had told my Dad that it was a waste of time and that it wouldn't survive. But, I was wrong. It dropped a lot of leaves at first but it pulled through and is growing strong to this day. Cover the whole tree in shade cloth and leave a hose on a slight trickle 24 hrs a day for the first few days.

[Orkine]

How large is the tree?

How old and how long in the ground?

Do you have to remove immediately or do you have time to prep before you move.

[Plantinyum]

My advise will also be to prune the tree severely, yet try to leave a few leaves here and there. You sould in any case try to keep as much of the feader roots as possible, also do not let the roots dry up for any length of time while u are doing the digging. U can choose a overcast day for the job, or beter do it right before u expect several rainy days.

[Pasca]

I had to move our lychee tree during home construction. Because the tree was so heavy to move, I had to prune off all the branches. I dug out a root ball. And to my surprise, the tree survived. New shoots came out about 1 month after replanting.

[Fiddler]

Thanks for the responses! This tree is about 8' tall and has been in the ground for about 5 years. There's no hurry and I've got plenty of time to prep. Florida's rainy season is almost upon us, so between that and irrigation, there's not much danger of it drying out too much.

[Orkine]

Good, if you have some time, you may want to trench around the tree (where you hope to take the root ball) and leave it for some time before move day.

I recall reading somewhere that this helps.  Look it up or someone who knows why please fill in the gaps.

[Plantinyum]

Good, if you have some time, you may want to trench around the tree (where you hope to take the root ball) and leave it for some time before move day.

I recall reading somewhere that this helps.  Look it up or someone who knows why please fill in the gaps.

this helps if you plan on relocating it in the next year or two. The reason behind trenching is the plants to have time to produce new feeder or other roots closer to the trunk ,so when u dig it up u have more root in an area that usually has few roots.