A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2007 magnolia tree

my husband dug me up a magnolia tree while he was out hunting and it is fairly small.
i have it in a 5 gal bucket with dirt and fertilizer in the house parked in the sun.
it doesn't seem to be growing much at all and yet it doesn't seem to be dying either.
i was wondering if i should put it out now or wait til spring and would it affect it any that he uprooted it in midwinter?

It shouldn't be growing right now as it should be in it's winter dormant period, which is the best time to transplant it. I have dug trees during the winter and went ahead and put them in the ground immediately so they can be establishing a good root system before the heat of summer. I always add a good root stimulator when I plant it and water it well. It will probably put on a nice flush of new growth in the spring. I see you are LA--as in Los Angeles or Louisiana? I'm over here in Mississippi.

Actually Lower Alabama
So you are telling me to go ahead and take it out of the bucket and transplant it where i want it in the yard?
Its still close to freezing here and very rainy so rain makes it even more cold, and that type of climate is okay for me to change it to the actual ground outside?
It wouldn't stunt it or kill it or anything?

it will be fine. and, if you were able to get one to survive the dig up and put in the bucket, you have a keeper. they aren't very easy to do that with once they get larger.

where in la are you from? my gramma is in foley

I agree with Jiffymouse--go ahead and put it in the ground now. If it's young enough to fit in a bucket it will survive all the better. BTW, my soon-to-be daughter-in-law lives over in Birmingham.