The Advantages of Bare Root Plants
What are bare root plants?
If you’re not familiar with bare root plants, they are what they sound like - the bare roots and crowns of plants that are in a dormant stage that you can plant out.
You technically are already planting bare root if you’ve planted tulips or dahlias - both are specialized roots that you are planting into the ground that will then grow into a nice plant the same year!
Bare roots are generally referring to perennial plants like Japanese anemones, phlox, roses, and so on - that are shipped to you as a whole plant during the off-season.
What are the advantages of bare root plants?
When you start off a plant from seed or a plug, they’re usually very small - baby seedlings, which are usually quick to grow into a large plant within a growing season but may still take a long time - several years in fact.
Bare root plants on the other hand, allows you to skip over the grow-in stage entirely. You’re able to plant a large full-sized plant that establishes very well and will allow you to have good growth and a productive crop the first year.
For example, planting bare-root clematis allowed us to harvest a bunch off each plant due to their large size. Each bunch of ours was sold to florists which paid for the bare root plant, and then continued to produce more as the season goes on. The good news about these being perennial crops is that they will then continue to produce every year having gotten established - meaning that every year afterwards they will continue to produce at a profit for you.
Even better is the fact that bare root plants can be planted even when it is still cold outside. So long as the soil isn’t frozen solid, you can plant them into the ground even if you’re still due for some freezes or cold weather - the plants are dormant so they won’t be bothered by it.
What’s wrong with growing from plugs or seed?
There’s nothing wrong with growing from plugs or seeds. In fact, growing from plugs or seeds is absolutely fine to do, especially if you’re a home gardener. On the other hand as a flower farmer, plugs and seeds are easy, economical ways of getting your crops established and for some crops makes great sense to do so - echinacea, broadleaf sage, scabiosa and other perennials are so easy and cheap to start from seed that we don’t bother buying even plugs or bare root for those plants.
However, I know that if I’m planting out something like roses from plug cuttings or helenium from seeds, it will be a couple of years before I can really expect a good harvest from them, meaning that the initial investment will take too much time for us to see a return as a flower farmer, which makes it harder to justify the cost for a large plug order.
I also like the fact too that it allows us to purchase a lot of cultivared plants at once - which is impossible to do from seed and can be difficult to find as plugs. If you’re looking to grow a lot of a certain cultivar very quickly (and can’t do it via plugs), bare root is the way to do it.
How to plant bare root plants
Bare root plants aren’t hard to plant at all - they’re much easier than the more technique sensitive and sometimes more delicate plugs and bulbs and transplants, being much more hardy and less prone to damage during shipping.
The main keys to success are ensuring that the don’t dry out, and planting them at the correct level.
Receiving your bare root plants
Bare root plants will arrive usually packed together with others in a bag of wood shavings or even shredded paper. They should look healthy and firm, without any slime or mush or dark and blackened parts or any withered, dried, leathery bits.
Most importantly, the crowns should be intact - in some species, you should be able to see either shoots or eyes where the plant will start growing.
If you can’t get your bare root plants into the ground right away, you can store them in a cool and moist environment until you’re ready to plant them. They would actually work well in an area that you’re storing dahlia tubers in - 38-48 F - or a similarly cool, dark spot that doesn’t freeze such as a garage or barn or shed.
Give the bare root plants a little soak
It’s good to give your bare root plants the chance to soak before you plant them out. This will allow them to replenish the moisture they have lost during the harvesting, storage and shipping processes and ensure they are fully hydrated when they are planted.
We usually soak ours in a bucket filled with lukewarm water. If you have more plants, you may need to get a bigger container to soak them in - everything from bathtubs to kiddie pools to cattle troughs have been utilized by different growers.
We usually just plunge the roots into the water and ensure that they sit there for at least a couple of hours, but no more than overnight (to prevent them from getting waterlogged).
Dig a hole to the correct depth
When you’re planting bare root, you’ll want to ensure you plant them at the correct depth.
Most plants like roses or phlox will be planted so that the crown is just at the level of the soil. Some, like Clematis recta will need to actually be buried lower with 3-4” of soil above the surface - just check your planting information to ensure that you’re burying them at the correct depth.
It’s better to bury too deep than too shallow. Especially in later winter/early spring, some freezes may cause the root systems and crowns to heave out of the ground, so you can prevent that by burying them a bit deeper.
If you’re using drip irrigation, the best way to plant bare root is to get the drip tape down below the subsurface and then plant the bare root right onto the line of tape - this keeps them weed free and gets the water right to where it needs to go down at the roots.
If you have a little bit of top growth that is twisting and curling around, don’t worry - it will straighten out with time and growth.
The different types of roots
Depending on the type of plant you grow, they will have different shaped roots that will be planted differently.
If you have a plant with a large taproot like echinacea, you’ll want to ensure that you get that root planted as vertical as possible, ensuring that the crown of the plant is at least an inch or two underneath the soil surface.
If you have a fibrous bushy root with a non-woody top, you’ll want to plant it a couple inches below the soil surface. If you have a fibrous root with a woody top, you’ll want to plant it with the woody part (last year’s growth) right at the root surface or a little bit deeper.
Wait until the plants start growing
After that, it’s simply a matter of keeping your bare roots relatively moist, weed free, and then watching them grow. It’s kind of nice to see those dry, bare roots explode outwards into growth and forming a nice-sized plant in just a few short weeks, and to be able to have a large full-sized plant in the first year is very rewarding.
What should I buy as bare root?
Roses for one, are great to buy bare root. If you purchase roses from David Austin or any of the other major rose suppliers, they will come in bare root form and be ready to be planted in the ground to give you fully grown plant that same year.
We also really like bare root garden phlox (Phlox davidii) and we had a great time last year with bare root bush clematis ‘Serious Black’ (Clematis recta ‘Serious Black’) which for all you Potterheads is yes, indeed named for Harry’s godfather.
Most perennials can be purchased bare root and transplanted successfully. Echinacea and Oriental poppies and eryngiums and daylilies are some of the most popular, but you can also find everything from bleeding hearts to hostas to ferns as bare root.
I hope this encourages you to look into bare root plants
Really bare roots are such a great advantage for the gardener or flower farmer, I’m surprised more people don’t plant them.
Whether you’re trying to increase your perennial stock or looking at adding a few new cool plants that you can’t really find anywhere else, bare roots are a great option for everyone.
If you have any questions regarding bare root plants, leave them in the comments below!
If you’re interested in other ways of growing perennials, biennials and annuals from seed, check out our posts on seed starting and propagating perennials from cuttings (they are as applicable to the home gardener as they are the flower farmer!):
And if you’re interested in growing perennials as a flower farmer (which you definitely should! They are a great investment and a high-dollar crop) we have a book about growing perennials for cut flowers!
