Bare-root planting made easy!
Now’s the time to start getting bare-root plants into the ground. Here’s how to get the best results...
There was once a time when plants in plastic pots didn’t exist, and if you wanted some new plants for the garden, you’d have to order most of them during the year when you could see them growing in the nursery, then pick them up as bare-root plants for planting in winter before spring arrives.
The advent of plastic pots changed all that and plants could be seen and bought in flower. Obviously this is more convenient for the buyer and allowed a wider range of plants to be seen in the flesh, but it also means that old, stressed plants can be bought and planted at a time of year (namely summer) when it’s difficult for the plants to grow well. Anybody who has planted a potted plant this spring and summer will know how hard it is to get them growing and keep them alive during heat and drought!
Bare-root plants are only sold in winter when the plants are dormant (not growing), which means that there’s no constant watering or feeding needed for the first few months after planting.
What does bare-root mean?
A bare-root plant is one that has been dug up from where it’s been grown at the nursery and then sold with its roots exposed. Sometimes bare-root plants will be sold with the roots in a bag with loose compost inside it. Plants commonly sold as bare-root include roses, hedging plants, fruit bushes and trees, both ornamental and fruit. Some specialist nurseries also include bare-root perennial plants, which are best potted up and grown on in a cold frame so they don’t become ‘lost’ in a border over winter.
Why buy bare-roots?
They’re often less expensive than the equivalent sold in pots because they’re cheaper to transport and the costs are lower. You don’t have to pay for the time taken in the potting process or a pot, compost and plant food put into the container. ● The plants are ‘fresh’, young plants, which should establish quickly in the soil without being bothered by disease. Potted plants have been dug up from a nursery and then potted up and may have been living in their pot for a whole year or more, which will have potentially stressed the plant and put it at risk of being over or under-watered while on sale. ● There’s no risk of the plants being ‘pot bound’, where the
roots of a potted plant circle around the pot. These plants can be slow to establish, with the roots not spreading their way through the soil very quickly after planting.
Planting bare-root plants in winter while they’re dormant helps the roots settle into the soil so that when spring arrives they can grow away quickly and look like an established plant in the first year.
It’s the best way of buying a large quantity of plants. If you want to plant 40 raspberry canes on an allotment, they’re tied up in a tight bundle that can be easily posted or put in the back of a car if you buy them from a nursery. They’ll also take up little space if you can’t plant them straightaway.
How to store bare-root plants
Keep bare-root plants indoors at a temperature no more than 10C (50F) and keep the roots damp at all times. If you’ve received a bare-root package, then provided it’s kept at this temperature and the packaging hasn’t been disturbed, the plants will be fine for a week. Any longer and the plants need all their packaging removed, then place them in a bucket of water, with the roots completely submerged, until you’re ready to plant. You can store them this way all through winter if you have to, but it’s best to plant as soon as you’re able. Stems of trees and roses will start to shrivel if they’re too dry.
What ‘heeling in’ means
The term heeling in refers to temporarily planting something while you wait for the opportunity to plant it in the place you want it. This is useful if you receive plants for a new
you dug yet or for an area of the garden that isn’t ready for planting or that’s too wet or frozen to allow you to plant.
To heel in a plant, simply dig a long, shallow hole and lay the plant horizontally so that the roots can be covered with soil without the need to dig down deep. Pile soil over the roots until they’re covered and the plants can be left until spring if necessary. Only water them during very dry spells. The plants may start to form leaf shoots in mild spells but as long as you plant them before the end of March, then there’s nothing to worry about.