rockm

"I plan on digging some of these up ASAP:

For heaven's sake why? That's the worst course of action for these trees.

First off, I asume the rodent has chewed them down recently? Is there any backbudding form the trunks at all? If not, Leave them be until the year after they sprout. In ground forest trees will simply die once chewed back, or chopped back to a stump and left alone.

That kind of brings me to the second point, the correct time to collect a tree isn't the "third week of February in your area." It's more "when a tree is about to break bud, It's time to dig it up". That time can occur anythime from late Feb. to late June, depending on species and location. Beech here in Va. don't break bud until the end of May, while honeysuckle and wild roase are breaking new growth now.

I would wait until the plant show backbudding and then collect them the year AFTER that. Getting those plants out will proably take some effort. You want that effort to go towards a tree that's alive

Trees that have been topped by rodents take a long time to push new growth through older bark. Newly chewed trunks may not break bud until June. They depend on all of their reserve to do so. A chopped root system can greatly reduce those reserves...