We live in the Zug area in a 3rd floor apartment and have two trees and a rose bush in three large heavy terracotta pots (2x 72cm diameter and 1x 62 cm diameter). We are moving and the next tenant does not want the trees. Ideally we'd like to find a new home for the trees, though if not possible we will have to dispose of them. We are also afraid the trees will not fit in our elevator even if we could get them there. My questions are as follows: Are there gardening specific websites where we can post the trees for sale or is tutti.ch our best option? Who should we reach out to about lifting the trees from the balcony? Gardening centers? Do gardening centers every take the trees back (for a fee) and resell them? If we have to dispose of the trees, is there a composting center we can bring the dirt and wood to? Does the city every do special pick ups of plant compost material? We appreciate any advice you may have!
- plants sell on ricardo, there is the Amtsblatt, you could try contacting corporates directly. The pots themselves have a resale value.
- You could think about lowering them over the balcony. Moving companies will do this and transport them
- Phone up Schwitter and ask them
- The Allmig composting centre outside Baar
- Not that I know of. You need to get it to a size to fit in the green wheelie bins.
I can't imagine that garden centres would take anything back, unless for warranty reasons, but you could contact Hauenstein or Schwitter. (You can't be the only one who has ever encountered this)
If it were me, I would give them away and share the cost of removal/delivery with the recipient
What are the trees and could you post photos?
The trees are as follows:
- Acer Palitum "Fireglow" ina 72 cm pot Photinia fraseri 'Carré Rouge' in a 72-cm pot Hella Blanc Rose bush in a 62 cm pot Images of the trees can be found here:
They are nice trees in good health which is why we would prefer they find a few home.
P.S.: your pix don't show.
I can’t seem to figure out how to attach photos, so here is a link to the photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VW68rBXJGmH6nuvL9
I’m interested, definitely the rose which looks moveable with the help of a roller cart (I have one) to the lift, and muscle into back of car.
What is the total height of rose (from base of pot to top of plant)?
Same for the acer
“Car” meaning a van
An Acer that size would sell for quite a bit in a store. If you still have trouble finding a new home for him, perhaps you could try contacting some Gartenbau companies in your area and maybe they'd come pick him up -- even if it's without the pot.
If you (or someone) needs to transport that Fireglow more easily, though, you could prune him a bit (on a cool day) to decrease his width a bit (to get him through a door) and remove him from the pot (even if you have to break the pot with a hammer), then drench his rootball in water and protect the rootball with wet gardenfleece and then wrap that in a large plastic bag until he can be put in his new home. All on a cool-ish day.
If we were closer to Zug, I'd be tempted to come get him.
Otherwise I am sure you can rehome the trees if you offer them for free. There are people, like me, who would not want the pots, so transport might be a bit easier but this time of year is really too hot to transfer a plant into the ground. I'd keep them in the pots until the Fall.
Tutti is good, but even a card on the noticeboard of a local grocery store might be useful.
We called Schwitter and they do not take back trees unless there is a warranty issue. They gave us contact information for a landscaper/gardener. The landscaper came by today and gave the following rough prices with the promise of getting us quote by end of week:
- A truck and crane costs ~CHF 250 per hour
- Delivery of the plants is ~CHF100 per hour
- On top of this would be labor costs (no number was given).
- The landscaper can dispose of the trees for us and will give us the cost with the quote. Fortunately we had a number of people express interest so fingers crossed this won't be necessary.
We had been so worried about the height of the trees not fitting in the elevator, but when we measured we discovered that actually the two big pots the trees are in will not fit through the elevator door. If they were empty we could get them out, but otherwise we need to use a crane.
As for posting the trees, we got a number of responses through Tutti. We also heard from a few people through this forum. We ended up not posting on Ricardo so I can't say what our success rate would have been there. We also did not try posting on our local grocery store new board, but I like that idea too.
Thanks again for all of your help and input!
I am using planter bags for my balcony plants. They have almost no weight, come in many sizes e.g.
https://www.amazon.de/WUNDERGARDEN-v…zcF9tdGY&psc=1
You can even cut them off if you have trouble repotting/balling up a plant.
I like Acer too. I've a small on in my garden.
These guys seem to be no strangers to moving trees by helicopter
From what I saw in your photo, I think that Fireglow is going to need a wider pot soon anyways, as Acers have wide but shallow roots, and it looks like the pot that it's in now is tall but not very wide. Fireglow maples can grow to be about 12 to 15 feet tall, so I think it's definitely going to need a wider pot at some point soon or else it's going to become root-bound.
So if you do have to remove the Acer from the pot or even break the pot that it's in now, to get it out of the pot and more easily transported, don't feel too bad since it's going to need a wider pot soon anyways.
I actually had to break a pot just the other day to get a spotted laurel out. I've found that putting a towel down around and under the pot helps, to catch the pieces for easier clean-up... and then also using a thick towel between the pot and the hammer to soften the blow (and the noise) a bit. Usually pots like that will break into large pieces though.
I know that's a huge, beautiful pot, though... so it would be sad to break it.