Editing Openai/693c432f-d2a0-8002-9cc1-0743144a6366 (section)

===== 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.