Openai/693c432f-d2a0-8002-9cc1-0743144a6366

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User: Someone is offering to give away the shrub/tree on the far right of this picture but only if someone will dig it up and…

Someone is offering to give away the shrub/tree on the far right of this picture but only if someone will dig it up and move it themselves. I’m wondering if you could take a guess at what kind of plant it is and estimate how large the root ball might be how much the whole thing would weigh and if it is likely to survive a transplant in December?

Assistant: That right-most shrub has all the hallmarks of an arborvitae most likely Thuja occidentalis “Emerald Green”/“Smaragd” o…

That right-most shrub has all the hallmarks of an arborvitae (most likely Thuja occidentalis “Emerald Green”/“Smaragd” or a similar dwarf conical cultivar). The tight, dense, conical shape and the very fine, scale-like foliage are exactly in that family.

Now for the gritty horticultural engineering, which is more fun when you picture roots as a sort of subterranean nervous system making long-term plans.

How big is the root ball likely to be?

Arborvitae don’t send out deep taproots—they spread a shallow, fibrous mat. When they’re planted as landscape specimens like this, the root system tends to radiate outward like a disk rather than a sphere.

Based on the size in your photo, this one looks around 7–8 feet tall, maybe 3–4 feet across at the base.

For a plant that size:

• A properly sized transplant root ball would be roughly 30–36 inches in diameter and 14–18 inches deep.

That’s the ideal size if you wanted to preserve maximum roots.

How much would that weigh?

Soil is heavier than it looks—closer to a reluctant planet than a plant.

A root ball that size, assuming typical loam:

• Diameter: ~32"
• Height: ~16"
• Approximate volume: ~7–8 cubic feet
• Weight of moist soil: 700–900 pounds, potentially more.

If the soil is clay-heavy or wet, it gets…let’s call it character-building.

You can shave the size down if you’re willing to gamble on survival. A 24" root ball drops the weight into the 300–450 lb range, but survival odds decrease as you remove root mass.

Will it survive a December transplant?

Here’s where biology gets moody.

December in your climate (looks like northeastern US) is far from ideal. Arborvitae can be transplanted when dormant, but mid-late fall is usually the last safe window. Once the ground starts chilling toward a freeze, rooting slows to a crawl.

Risks in December:

• Newly disturbed roots can’t reestablish before deep cold.
• Frost heave can break fine root hairs.
• Winter burn (desiccation) is much more likely.

Survival odds are maybe 40–60%, depending on:

• Temperature swings
• Soil moisture
• How intact the root system is
• How quickly it’s replanted
• Whether you can mulch heavily and water before the freeze

If you want to give it its best shot:

• Move it on a day above freezing.
• Keep the root ball wrapped tight and moist.
• Plant it immediately—same day.
• Water thoroughly before the ground freezes.
• Heap 6–8 inches of mulch over the root zone.
• Consider burlap wrapping for wind protection.

Bottom line

It’s probably an arborvitae. It’s certainly heavy. And it’s possibly salvageable, but it demands the sort of stubborn optimism normally reserved for planting fruit trees in a thunderstorm.

If you enjoy a good winter challenge, it’s doable. If you want a sure thing, that’s trickier in December. You could also plant it a bit shallower and accept that you’re playing arboreal roulette.

If you want, I can help estimate tools, manpower, or a strategy for extracting it without reenacting a Yukon gold mining scene.