I ordered some bare-rooted plants for a hedge, and they were dispatched on
Tuesday. Unfortunately the carrier seems to have messed up and they have
not yet arrived.

If they don't come today I am guessing the earliest is Monday. Will they
still be okay? I haven't used bare-rooted plants for many years, so I'm not
sure how long they can be out of the ground. They are a mixture of
quickthorn and blackthorn with possibly a couple of other native species.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Karen

"Karen" wrote in
:


I ordered some bare-rooted plants for a hedge, and they were
dispatched on Tuesday. Unfortunately the carrier seems to have messed
up and they have not yet arrived.

If they don't come today I am guessing the earliest is Monday. Will
they still be okay? I haven't used bare-rooted plants for many years,
so I'm not sure how long they can be out of the ground. They are a
mixture of quickthorn and blackthorn with possibly a couple of other
native species.

So dead tough, and at this time of year you can be reasonably sure they
will not have been stacked in a hot place or got completely dried out.
They won't need much light at this time of year either (no leaves).

I'd guess they will be perfectly fine, but of course take a good look when
they arrive and make sure the wood doesn't look dry and wrinkly (should be
fat and smooth), that there are healthy looking, if small, leaf buds in
place, and they have not been too badly knocked about in transit.


Victoria Clare

In message , Victoria
Clare writes
"Karen" wrote in
:


I ordered some bare-rooted plants for a hedge, and they were
dispatched on Tuesday. Unfortunately the carrier seems to have messed
up and they have not yet arrived.

If they don't come today I am guessing the earliest is Monday. Will
they still be okay? I haven't used bare-rooted plants for many years,
so I'm not sure how long they can be out of the ground. They are a
mixture of quickthorn and blackthorn with possibly a couple of other
native species.

So dead tough, and at this time of year you can be reasonably sure they
will not have been stacked in a hot place or got completely dried out.
They won't need much light at this time of year either (no leaves).

I'd guess they will be perfectly fine, but of course take a good look when
they arrive

Yep, I think they will be fine as long as they have been packed
properly. The main problem would be if the roots had dried out. As long
as they have been wrapped etc. they should be fine.

--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds
urg Suppliers and References FAQ:
http://www.familyfrench.co.uk/garden/urgfaq/index.html

On Fri, 29 Nov 2002 09:46:35 -0000, "Karen"
wrote:

I ordered some bare-rooted plants for a hedge, and they were dispatched on
Tuesday. Unfortunately the carrier seems to have messed up and they have
not yet arrived.

If they don't come today I am guessing the earliest is Monday. Will they
still be okay? I haven't used bare-rooted plants for many years, so I'm not
sure how long they can be out of the ground. They are a mixture of
quickthorn and blackthorn with possibly a couple of other native species.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance,

I once met an old gentleman who had two gardens, one around his
home and another on a large (one or two acres?) lot in the far
suburbs. (The second was far and away the more beautiful, I might
add.) Among the features of his "other" garden was a small apple
orchard which, as things are done around here, was planted from
bare-root stock.

The relevance to your question is that he described once
receiving a shipment of young bare-root whips that had been
delayed in transit and were badly desiccated. He simply immersed
them in water for a couple of days before planting them, and they
established without a hitch.

It's certainly been my experience that the real risk when plants
are shipped is rot, from excessive moisture, rather than
desiccation.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The message
from Chris French and Helen Johnson
contains these words:

In message , Victoria
Clare writes
"Karen" wrote in
:


I ordered some bare-rooted plants for a hedge, and they were
dispatched on Tuesday. Unfortunately the carrier seems to have messed
up and they have not yet arrived.

If they don't come today I am guessing the earliest is Monday. Will
they still be okay? I haven't used bare-rooted plants for many years,
so I'm not sure how long they can be out of the ground. They are a
mixture of quickthorn and blackthorn with possibly a couple of other
native species.

So dead tough, and at this time of year you can be reasonably sure they
will not have been stacked in a hot place or got completely dried out.
They won't need much light at this time of year either (no leaves).

I'd guess they will be perfectly fine, but of course take a good look when
they arrive

Yep, I think they will be fine as long as they have been packed
properly. The main problem would be if the roots had dried out. As long
as they have been wrapped etc. they should be fine.

--
Chris French and Helen Johnson, Leeds

My order from Buckingham's last year got left at a depot and forgotten
about. It was a full two weeks before I got them and the package was
slightly damaged.

I contacted Buckingham's who said they were packed to last two weeks but
made a note of the damage to the packet and of the fact that I thought
some roots had dried out a bit.

In fact I lost one yew plant out of 25 and one tree, which they have
fully replaced this year with more mature plants to compensate and
allowed me free postage on this year's order.

So I would agree: inspect the packing; if you're in any doubt phone the
nursery and put your worries on record, hope for the best but follow it
up if any die.

Janet G