Bare rooted apple tree in black sacks

moparpete, Nov 13, 9:03pm
A question. Are in sale in our local store. Is it possible to buy and keep them in their black sack state till christmas for gifting. They allready have some leaves emerging from them.

piquant, Nov 13, 9:20pm
Are you meaning they still don't have any soil or growing medium round their roots? Is your local store a garden centre. If so, they need a proper bollocking. "scuse my french. But the answer is no - they cannot just be kept in a black plastic sack till Christmas.
I would be seriously questioning anyone selling bareroot at this time anyway and only people who knew exactly how to handle trees in this fragile state could make an informed decision about whether or not to risk taking them on. They should be in full leaf by now had they been planted or bagged up when they should have been. That was mid winter to about August at the latest. If they have been heeled into a pile, they would have delicate feeder roots coming now and if those get broken off in re=planting then it will always suffer. My advice to you would be to go to a reputable nursery or garden centre and purchase a properly bagged one. They'll probably hold it for you till Christmas if you pay for it now.

moparpete, Nov 14, 11:58am
Thanks for that piquant. It's our local Warehouse.No there was no soil around the roots for this fruit trees only the thick black plastic covering over the root section tied up with string . I will take your advise n leave it cause I just thought its so light when you pick it up n it probably will not survive till christmas and then it would be a waste of money.

maclad, Nov 14, 4:43pm
That is a pretty sad way to sell trees. Even in winter, the correct time for buying bare rooted trees, the plants are put into some type of medium, as soon as possible, to keep the roots wet, while waiting to be sold. And when we sold a bare rooted plant it was always wrapped in wet shredded paper or straw to stop the roots drying out. This is a trap for the uninformed and should not be allowed.

mack77, Feb 12, 4:18pm
Your idea may be okay if you store them in a coolstore and keep the roots moist.