But after unwrapping them the roots and soil look very dry. The buds on
the stems look plump and I can see some green on the upper ones. Does
that mean the plants are alive, or are the roots dead, but the stems are
still alive but will die eventually if the roots have dried out too much?

"Frank Booth Snr" wrote in message
...
But after unwrapping them the roots and soil look very dry. The buds on
the stems look plump and I can see some green on the upper ones. Does that
mean the plants are alive, or are the roots dead, but the stems are still
alive but will die eventually if the roots have dried out too much?

Get them in water, they'll be fine.


Steve

In message , Frank
Booth Snr writes
But after unwrapping them the roots and soil look very dry. The buds on
the stems look plump and I can see some green on the upper ones. Does
that mean the plants are alive, or are the roots dead, but the stems
are still alive but will die eventually if the roots have dried out
too much?

I assume the roots where wrapped in plastic or inside a plastic bag type
thing? That seems to be the normal way nowadays.

The roots will look a bit dry, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. I
give them a bit of a soak in a bucket of water, and then get them in the
ground ASAP. If you can't plant them, then heel them in until you can,
they will find like that for months if necessary
--
Chris French

chris French wrote:
In message , Frank
Booth Snr writes
But after unwrapping them the roots and soil look very dry. The buds
on the stems look plump and I can see some green on the upper ones.
Does that mean the plants are alive, or are the roots dead, but the
stems are still alive but will die eventually if the roots have dried
out too much?

I assume the roots where wrapped in plastic or inside a plastic bag type
thing? That seems to be the normal way nowadays.

The roots will look a bit dry, but it doesn't seem to be a problem. I
give them a bit of a soak in a bucket of water, and then get them in the
ground ASAP. If you can't plant them, then heel them in until you can,
they will find like that for months if necessary

Yes, they were wrapped up in plastic. Trouble is I unwrapped them on my
balcony, then left it for some days before planting them in today. I had
to buy some compost for a container, but didn'tget around to it until now.

The roots looked boned dry, but some of the the buds looked fresh. What
I really wanted to know is whether the roots would be useless despite
apparent moisture in the canes?

Frank Booth Snr wrote:
The roots looked boned dry, but some of the the buds looked fresh. What
I really wanted to know is whether the roots would be useless despite
apparent moisture in the canes?

In my experience, raspberries are very hard to kill. If it has buds, it
will* be fine. from my memory of accidental digging up of raspberry roots
when weeding, they do tend to look kind of dried out, even when they're on
fully established plants! So they may not be as bad as you think.

wrote in
:

Frank Booth Snr wrote:
The roots looked boned dry, but some of the the buds looked fresh.
What I really wanted to know is whether the roots would be useless
despite apparent moisture in the canes?

I had the same worries a few years ago with some raspberry plants, they
were as you describe so I put the roots in buckets of water overnight and
planted them the next day. The following spring they started off great
though no fruit to speak of that year, but have made up for it since.

Yesterday I bought some gooseberry plants and they were also bone dry but I
have no worries now. Its just how it is these days how ever sceptical or
unsure you feel they will be fine.
I KNOW you wont be convinced until you see them in spring. I was the same.

Baz

Baz wrote in
:


Frank Booth Snr wrote:
The roots looked boned dry, but some of the the buds looked fresh.
What I really wanted to know is whether the roots would be useless
despite apparent moisture in the canes?

I had the same worries a few years ago with some raspberry plants,
they were as you describe so I put the roots in buckets of water
overnight and planted them the next day. The following spring they
started off great though no fruit to speak of that year, but have made
up for it since.

Yesterday I bought some gooseberry plants and they were also bone dry
but I have no worries now. Its just how it is these days how ever
sceptical or unsure you feel they will be fine.
I KNOW you wont be convinced until you see them in spring. I was the
same.

Baz


By the way.
My wife has just reminded me that a couple of the bare root raspberry
plants we bought had lumps on the roots which looked like photos I have
seen about club root in cabbages. I was not happy about that so I clipped
them off and chucked them on the compost heap and they grew too on the
heap.
Yes I know that raspberries cant have club root but the lumps looked kind
of un-natural, thats why I clipped them off.

Baz

On 11/02/2010 01:25 PM, Martin wrote:
Growers in Boskoop, in The Netherlands are banned from selling trees with earth
on the roots. They are probably amongst the biggest producers of trees and
bushes in the Netherlands. We have bought rose bushes directly from the growers
in Boskoop and all grew without any problems.

Really? I've bought many trees from Boskoop, some bare root, others in
pots, others with burlap root balls. Last time I was in Boskoop there
were plenty of container trees on offer. I've never heard anything
about this ban... I wonder how I've escaped it?

-E

Emery Davis wrote:
On 11/02/2010 01:25 PM, Martin wrote:
Growers in Boskoop, in The Netherlands are banned from selling trees with earth
on the roots. They are probably amongst the biggest producers of trees and
bushes in the Netherlands. We have bought rose bushes directly from the growers
in Boskoop and all grew without any problems.

Really? I've bought many trees from Boskoop, some bare root, others in
pots, others with burlap root balls. Last time I was in Boskoop there
were plenty of container trees on offer. I've never heard anything
about this ban... I wonder how I've escaped it?

Probably becase the ones you've had have been grown in artificial
compost, not earth.

--
Rusty