You killed it! Curious to know about what size oak trees you transplanted.
Discussion
One was about 4ft tall. I pruned off most of the lateral branches and was able to get about a foot and a half of the tap root and some good feeder roots. The other was a tiny sapling that was growing next to it. I’m skeptical if that one will make it but it had quite a bit of roots in tact so I may get lucky. The key is to sever the roots about a 1.5ft around then dig around the outside of those cuts. Once your a shovel head deep you can scrape the soil from the roots with your hands to try and minimize the damage.
Nice. I've transplanted a few yaupons growing wild on our property, to move closer to the house. A few died, but i have several that survived.
Do yaupons grow wild on your property?
I’ve had very good success with transplanting smooth sumac and eastern redbud. I’ve hardly done anything to them and they just take off.