Moving soon, when should I dig?

Horticulture
1

I have an interesting horticultural challenge ahead of me. I will be moving from the Willamette Valley likely in January or February to New Mexico. I have a raised bed that I have been using to grow some development stock; pinon pine, Japanese maples, gambel oak, quince, birch, pear, apricot and hornbeam. The trees have been in the bed for the last three years. My question is when is the best time to dig and move these trees.

My options are to dig them in full dormancy in January and move them to New Mexico, or dig them in June when I come back to move the house and all other possessions.

Where I’m headed is high altitude, >5000 ft. and spring comes in May, frost danger not over until June. I’m leaning towards moving them all in full dormancy, provided I can protect them when I get to New Mexico.

I also plan to put most of the trees back into the ground to continue developing the stock.

2

I would agree with the idea of digging and transplanting in full dormancy. I would expect the pine, maple. oak birch, and hornbeam, to be happy with the move and the additional cold dormancy NM will offer. I’m not so sure about the fruit trees or quince as I have no working knowledge with them.

3

If you left them until June, would they be reliably watered? May/June is kinda hitting that point where you can’t really rely on the environment to provide watering in the PNW.