Sweating bare-root shrubs

17 years ago

I mentioned on another thread that I'd never heard of this practice and that nobody in this country does it, but thought I'd get a better response in a separate thread.

So which parts of the USA do this? It seems fairly common for some species in the colder half of the country. Does it happen down south? In the PNW? Is it really helpful in those areas, or just a cultural habit carried on by people from colder climates.

I'll let you read up on sweating for yourself if you've never heard, but just quick word on bare root planting in the UK. Here, shrubs and trees are typically dug as they go dormant in autumn and planted some afterwards, but can and have been dug, stored, transported, and planted at any time during the winter or even as they are leafing out. The soil here never (certainly not more than once a decade) freezes more than a couple of inches down and never stays frozen for more than a week or two. Moisture in winter is not an issue even in the driest years.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

ginny12
17 years ago
ShrubsnBulbs, I've been gardening for over 35 years and have never heard of sweating. I should also add that bare-root shrubs and trees are extremely uncommon here. You almost never see them except in the most bargain-basement type of places. My experience has been mostly in the Northeast--maybe it's different elsewhere. This is certainly the colder part of the country.
0
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
17 years ago
25 years .. and i never heard of it either ... my experience is Michigan, Ohio and the general Midwest ....

god i love search engines .. see link below ...

i will note.. that the weather will not be too warm and sunny .. if you were planting bare root stock at a more appropriate time .... i went through hundreds of roses ..... and never had to do such... because i was planting around 4/1 to 4/15 ... and it was fully consistent with the dormant plant that was provided dormant ....

this sounds more like a process you would do, if you were planting in may or June ..... with the heat of summer just weeks away ....

i understand that it all depends on when you can get the stock you want ... sometimes the timing just isn't perfect ....

and.. hey .. whatever works.. knock yourself out ... who am i to say it isn't proper ....

have a good day.. ken

Here is a link that might be useful: go figure
0
Related Discussions
Bare root or own root?
Q
Comments (16)
Hi Vuwugarden The idea that all roses are best grown ownroot is just plain wrong. Some roses do very well ownroot, old garden roses, some hybrid perpetuals, knockout-/explorer-roses, some Kordes hybrid are not comparable to most modern roses. Now and then even the odd hybrid tea does well(I grow Peace in a container, selfmade from cutting). Even in warmer climates grafted roses can do better, in general grafted roses will grow a bit taller than ownroot. These are results from large test in the fields of many countries and observation has been as much as 7 years or more. If you live in area with fairly cold winters and a short growing season I dare state that modern roses will perform considerably better as grafted plants. Not all roses does well on the most common rootstocks, but this is something the large nurseries know. Suckers are not a big problem, if you check your roses two times a season or something like that rootstock will never have the chance to take over. You simply take out some leather gloves and pull them off. Some rootstocks sucker more than others, but you will probably not see more then one or three a year per 60 roses. Catrose: when the roses gets olde they will all form a "fist" of older wood near the ground. In fact, it is not that easy to tell the difference between a grafted and an ownroot after a few years unless you do some digging. Graftpoint usually is planted a few inches into the ground. I have several roses both grafted and made from cuttings of the same variety. Growth habit is by far determined by the variety, not the root stuck. Rootstock will give stronger growth, and plants will on average grow taller. They tend no more than ownroots to get leggy, spindly. This is more determined by variety and pruning than rootstock. Scardan123; As far as I know the Meilland roses we get here are grafted. Where my family and I have been gardening (Norway, Denmark and France) we buy mostly grafted, and all Meilland roses are. There are a few exceptions; some old roses, rugosa hybrids, some park-roses, species and near hybrids, groundcovers, but even the Meilland ground-coverers I have are grafted (probably on laxa). In short, Meilland roses are no less grafted than other roses. How ownroots will do are dependent on climate, soil, growing season and care given. I am not against ownroot roses, and will happily try to root any variety from cutting. If I where to grow ownroots exclusively I would have to give up most chinas, hybrid teas, floribundas, many climbers and shrubs, at least they would stay small and puny plants. That is mostly due to the short growing season; grafted plats gets an earlier start in spring, grow faster and stronger. These roses will not be more winter hardy as ownroot, if they freeze to the ground they will sprout back, but will have problem really taking of and becoming good plants. Hardy varieties with strong growth will do better. This is at least my experience on the subject, and I have spend a lot of time and energy on different rootstocks and ownroot roses. I know this is a subject that depend very on climate, soil, care roses get..., but still I am surprised how different experiences we have. I suspect that there are differences in the rootstocks that are used, USA use other types. It might have something to do with the grafting techniques too. Here oculation is by far the most common, if not the only one; an eye from the cane of the desired variety is placed in a T-shaped cut on the neck of the rootstock. That produces plants where grafting-point is hardly seen after planting, if at all. My post became far too long, I get carried away by this subject :-)
...See More
Bare-rooted shrubs and trees
Q
Comments (14)
In my very limited experience of planting trees, bare root and potted, I can't say either is preferable to the other. All have grown satisfactorily, although potted trees in growth need more looking after. Pot grown may be for the convenience of year round selling; but also year round buying. We no longer have to spend the winter huddled round the fire reading catalogues, we can buy, and plant most of the year. We should distinguish between bare root from a garden centre, and freshly lifted from a growing nursery. The latter are great if you can get them, and only want to plant when they are dormant. Many bare root stocks in garden centres have been bare root for weeks or months, with little or no after care. The few roses I have bought potted have all been bare root plants that have only been in the pot a matter of months. For fruit trees, and shrubs, I would agree in preferring freshly lifted bare root stocks, but then we often prune heavily when planting to improve the structure or prevent or improve fruiting. Not necessarily the same treatment I would give many ornamental trees and shrubs, when we want to see what we are buying is a good shape, healthy, and hopefully true to type. Brian
...See More
How difficult is it to grow shrubs from bare root?
Q
Comments (17)
I haven't had issues with Cercis falling apart due to weather, either when I lived in south-central OH or here. My current tree, a hardy strain from Bailey's, has been in the ground perhaps 10 years and was probably 6', 2" caliper when planted and has more than doubled in size. I know of other areas in NH where they are planted as well without problems to this point, but they aren't native here. I've heard others say that it's short-lived, especially when compared to other trees, but mine has survived wind and ice and heavy snow that damaged or destroyed other trees (Cornus kousa, ornamental pears, lilacs, etc.) without even losing branches. The ones I see regularly at work are similar. So my thought is that if you like them, plant some to see how they do, keeping in mind that they won't be as long-lived as other trees. I love the early pop of color along the edge of a grove of trees, and the heart-shaped leaves have a lovely texture that bead up water after rain and turn a clear yellow in fall.
...See More
Bare root shrubs
Q
Comments (4)
If the roots have been exposed to the air (not sold with wrapping around them or in a pot of damp sawdust or similar) then yes, soak them. But not for 2 days....that is excessive and unnecessary. A couple of hours is all that is required. And then plant ASAP.
...See More
plympton_ma
17 years ago
I'm not sure of the exact count (I've been adding shrubs to the landscape for about 20 years) but I know it is at least 500 shrubs thus far (it's a BIG yard) and although some of the evergreen shrubs were purchased balled and burlapped at local nurseries, virtually all of the deciduous shrubs were shipped via UPS, FedEx, etc and were bareroot.

There are many fine, reputable nurseries that ship this way. The plants I put in ranged from 12"-18" all the way up to 36"+ and I never "sweated" them. A couple of years ago I planted 20 viburnum dentatums that were easily 36" and never lost a one. Come to think of it, in all the years I've been planting, I think I only lost one after planting ( a failure to thrive situation).

Regarding sweating, although I didn't know that was the term for what I was doing, I did it many years ago for about 30 rosa rugosa that I planted in early Spring in a windswept location. I can say that in this instance, in this location, it proved beneficial. I do believe the extraodinary wind we got that nasty Spring would have nipped all the tender new shoots as they emerged.

So from my experience here, it's really not necessary---except in special circumstances like above.
0
Embothrium
17 years ago
Actually you can't say it was beneficial, as those roses all got the same treatment. No controls = no testing of assumption that it was beneficial.
0
plympton_ma
17 years ago
Well---I'm not so sure about that ;-)

The roses came from Pickering Nurseries, Ontario and, despite being early March, came with both swollen buds and active growth (about 1"). I buried the majority of the plant---but not all---there were 30 plants after all! The weather was really nasty here when I planted them and they were going in an exposed, windswept location to boot.

With the passing of time, the new growth, that was not buried, whithered away and died. In time, as I gradually exposed the remainder of the plant, the new growth, though blanched, had survived---as did all 30 roses.

The roses were big and healthy when they arrived. The new growth that was not protected from the elements died back. Had the roses, in their entirety, been left to the weather, all of the new growth would have suffered the same fate as the portion of the rose that I left exposed.

Those roses were some of the best I've ever bought. Would the plants have had the reserves to push out all new growth? Probably. Was the plant better-off for not having to? Absolutely.

So---the controls actually were in place. Each rose was a control and a test subject. Part of the plant was buried and part was not. The part that was buried lived---the part that wasn't buried, died. ;-)
0
Embothrium
17 years ago
What I was talking about was the conclusion that the sweating produced an enhanced result. The way to test that theory would have been to sweat 15 of them and plant 15 without sweating them (in same site, with same aftercare), then compare the results in some quantitative way like digging and weighing/measuring them all some time later. Otherwise, there is no way to see what effect the sweating may have produced - none of them went without it.
0

Sweating bare-root shrubs

Comments (6)

ginny12

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

Related Discussions

plympton_ma

Embothrium

plympton_ma

Embothrium

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US