Unique Too wrote:

Cass writes:

Next time, try growing your bareroots in big 5 gallon pots (free
discarded black plastic pots from the nursery) until they get going and
look nice and healthy. You also should mulch the canes until they leaf
out with about 2 inches of new growth. Then you slowly remove the mulch
by washing it off with the hose a little bit every day. It's easy to
do in a pot with a cardboard collar. I mulch up to the cane tips.
Here's a photo of what I mean:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cbernstei...ulchCollar.jpg

Cass, Thanks for the photo of your cardboard collar. I know it's
really too late for bare roots here, but I've got two coming next
week anyway. I've done it before so I expect I can do it again. I
think your collar idea will help. Before a heavy rain would wash off
the mulch and I'd have to pile it on again (and again and again). Do
you just tear away the collar a bit at a time to remove the mulch?

I think I pulled the collar off all at once. That removed the first
increment of mulch. Then I just hosed it off a little every few days. I
always kill any shoots under the mulch if I even think about touching
them, so I use the hose. Took about a week. Good luck with your late
BR's.