Can I relocate DD's five year old apple tree, when we move shortly?

[ChocolateRockingHorse]

It was moved once before when it was very young and seemed to take about 3 years to recover properly; enough to start producing fruit again.

Will it survive? It won't involve a long journey.. maybe we could cut a big block of earth around the roots (are they likely to be huge?) and insert it immediately (half an hour later!) into a similarly sized hole in the new garden..

Do you think it will survive this? 9 year old DD loves her apple tree. My mum got it for her, for her 3rd birthday as all she wanted was an apple tree that year!

Hard to say for sure without knowing size of the tree and the rootstock. tbh you'll probably find the roots are very spread out by now. You need to remove it from its location complete with all the little fibrey roots to have any chance of success so if you find you are having to cut the roots to get it out you'll not be successful.

Might be best to look at getting a new apple tree for when you move - if you think you might have to move again then maybe consider a pot-grown tree.

btw soo cute wanting an apple tree and being so attached to it - my DD1 is like that too.