Do People Pay This Amount ?

[Nyboy]

http://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/grd/5231289043.html every now and then a ad like this is posted on CL. Do large Japanese maples really sell for over $5,000? I have 4 this size, might be worth long term investment. forget Christmas tree farm, maple farm way to go it seems. A few times i have emailed ads asking if they had any offers, but no one has answered back

 

[ninnymary]

I could see a landscaper buying that tree and putting it in a celebrity mcmansion.

I once tried to sell my 5' maple for $75 and couldn't get a taker.

Mary

 

[so lucky]

I would think the problem would be transplanting it. You would definitely need some big digging machine. And then it would be a gamble.
Nyboy, if you could buy them small and grow them in containers to half that size, you would be onto something.

 

[thistlebloom]

I say good luck to that seller. Maybe 10% of that price would be more in line.
But that's thinking like an Idahoan.
A tree that's been in the ground for 10 years isn't going to have good transplant success, and like So Lucky said, you'd need a tree company to dig it up and transplant it, which around here would probably run close to another $1000.
Japanese maples can be a little temperamental.

 

[catjac1975]

http://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/grd/5231289043.html every now and then a ad like this is posted on CL. Do large Japanese maples really sell for over $5,000? I have 4 this size, might be worth long term investment. forget Christmas tree farm, maple farm way to go it seems. A few times i have emailed ads asking if they had any offers, but no one has answered back

Yes. They are a good size and a specific type when they are this expensive. a very rich customer I had told me that he and his wife went away for a long vacation and his $10,000 maple was gone. He was sure it was the gardener that sold it to him that stole it and resold it. They are slow growing and some people don't want to wait nor do they have to.

 

[Nyboy]

wow I wonder if his home owner insurance covered the thief. Most of the time ad says you must dig up and fill in hole after.

 

[thistlebloom]

Why anyone would by a mature tree from a private individual is beyond my
understanding. They won't be able to give a guarantee, and can you imagine the size of the root ball you'd have with a 10 year old tree that has grown unrestricted in a yard? Several hundred pounds at least, and if you dug up a smaller root ball you'd cut off the root tips which is where all the growing and nutrient uptake happens. Dead tree. Huge pit.

Tree farms that grow for transplant restrict the root zone growth so they can be dug and transplanted without thousands of pounds of soil having to be taken with the tree.
If I had $6000 to spend on a tree, I'd buy from a grower.

 

[catjac1975]

wow I wonder if his home owner insurance covered the thief. Most of the time ad says you must dig up and fill in hole after.

I doubt a homeowner would be able to get much for it. Asking is different from getting. Maybe a pro with the fancy tree digger will come and give them a pittance and sell it for the fortune, but I doubt it. They probably saw it at a nursery for a fortune and thought they could cash in. I have seen such adds. No one paying a fortune for a tree is going to dig it themselves.

 

[bobm]

Home Depot in Vancouver, Wa. has these 4' tall weaping Japanese Maple trees in 5 gal containers for clearance sale for $10. They were sold for $49 last spring and summer. 3 of my neighbors have these mound type maples in their yards that are almost that size as shown in the photo. Last winter I drastically pruned and shaped one of them into a contorted tree that now looks fantastic. 2 years ago I baught 7 tree type red leafed 4 ft tall in 5 gal containers Japanese Maples around Christmas time for $10 each. Now they are over 10 ft tall. This spring I baught a 6 ft. tall , in 5 gal container varigated Japanese Maple " butterfly" from a nursery on clearance for $ 7.00 . It still had a sales tag on it listing it for $149.

 

[ninnymary]

Bobm, were the trees you bought marked down healthy? The stuff I see marked down is so pathetic I wouldn't even take it if it was free.

Mary