December 5, 2026

Avalanche column 

november 17, 2016

When gardening or even landscaping, transplanting veggie seedlings, woody shrubs or trees are easy ways to get a “jump start” on a more productive garden or a mature landscape.

These transplants are available as bare root or containerized material. There are advantages and disadvantages to both of theses methods, especially if you are purchasing them.

Let us start with bare root material. This is exactly as it implies, the transplant's roots are exposed to the air. I frequently do seed beds for transplants. The advantage is the amount of space that is used to start the seedlings. As for landscaped bare root material most folks are familiar with fruit trees taking this form. It is a whole lot less expensive to ship plant material without soil. Any plant that is transplanted from one location to another needs to be treated as bare root Any time that you transplant a plant there is a substantial amount of root loss. This is where you can get into trouble with bare root. Only CONTAINER GROWN material can be treated differently.

I am very particular as to when I transplant bare root veggies. I like to do it just as cooler or cloudy weather is forecast. After transplanting, I lay fabric right on top of the transplants so that a nice humidity layer helps with their healing. I usually leave them this way for a week or so before raising the fabric. This allows the roots to heal enough so that all the plant functions can resume.

As for landscape plants, purchased bare root fruit trees are only available during the winter. During this milder time they can become established and continue to grow. It would be impossible to do a bare root plant in July and have a reasonable expectation of it's survival.

This is true with transplanting trees and shrubs in your yard, it is best to do this once the tree or shrub becomes dormant during the winter. This is not saying they will survive but they have a better chance.

As for watering you need to keep them moist but not saturated.

As for containerized plant material, you can plant them any time you like. I still like to do this going into a cooling period. This may not be necessary, but why not give your plant the best opportunity to survive and thrive. Probably the biggest difference between bare root and container material is the weight and the cost.