and it took a couple weeks to go through them.

==>>> i see this as the big problem ....

otherwise i would tell you to use newsprint ... and wrap the group of 5 in one newspaper burrito ... and stand them in a 5 gal bucket with an inch of water in the bottom ... and store the bucket in full shade ...

i would wonder if 4 weeks in a plastic bag would be any good ... the roots need air conundrum ...

hard to believe i dont have a pic of plants wrapped in newsprint ... hope you know how to wrap a burrito... lol ..

the variables: damp but not submerged in water roots... air ... some light ... lowest temps possible [dont want them budding out] ... and patience.. lol ...

at delivery.. then put the burritos in a plastic grocery bag ... to protect buyers car ....

there really shouldnt be a lot of water in all this .... just dont let the roots dry ....

ken

interesting link ... i would skip the water crystals.. and also the paper towel ... and for trees.... i would only do the roots and part of the trunk.. leaving the greenery showing for light ...

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/1202/

One good place to store bare root trees is an unheated garage. Ideally they shouldn't go below freezing but shouldn't get warm enough that they break dormancy.

You could also just drill holes in the bucket, fill it with potting soil, and stick 25 bare root trees in each bucket.

I don't quite get the gist of your post for some reason. Are you breaking up the 25's or are you simply forwarding (4) groups of 25's to each separate location?

I get bareroots in and here's a quick couple photos. The second photo is going to show that I cut them back because I graft on them. I get a rubbermaid tub and use a temporary media such as a bundle of animal bedding pine shavings just to keep the roots damp. It's cheap, you can fill a rubbermaid tub and can reuse the moist shavings for shipping. Long terms, these pine shavings are not good for grafting because they hold water too well and the grafts will bleed during knitting - so it's just a temp. thing.

I sent this photo to a guy I was getting scionwood from so that's why you see diameter measurements.

I really don't know if this is the information you are looking for, Tornado.

If I was going to split up the groupings, I would keep them as tight as possible together, wrap a rubber band or two around each - attach a label if necessary and put the trees in a kitchen garbage bag covering the roots with just enough of the pine shavings for shipping purposes. I'd tie the garbage bag using the bag itself for tying it tight and tie it just above the root collar. Off they go in Priority tube boxes. Roots on each end of the box (facing each other) and the wood meeting in the middle of the tube boxe(s).

Dax

Man, I like those ideas.

What is happening is we are going to give away 100 metasequoia again at work. We have 4 stores and I need to get 25 to each. The stores are pretty spread out. I can not drive to them all to water. At the stores I don't expect much help from the employees and honestly don't want to create much of a process for when a salesperson hands out a tree.

I'm thinking about sticking their roots in cheap damp potting mix (animal bedding with the polymer moisture crystals perhaps!) in a giant zip lock leaving the top open.

The zip locks I keep thinking will be quick to grab and relatively clean for our employees to handle and people to transport.

Ed, last time they were shipped dormant and while I had them the buds were swelling and opening. It seemed perfect. If it were me handing them out at home I'd do buckets or coolers full of top soil.

Ken, I see the polymer crystals on the auction site pretty cheap but I have never used them. How many pounds do you think I would need?

Dax, are there any negatives to using pine bedding instead of soil? Metasequoia probably won't mind being damp. Think it will react well with Ken's crystals?

For temporary shipping, I use the bedding alone. You've probably noticed that bareroot trees shipped to you have their roots bagged in stuff just like that/shredded office paper/fibrous orange colored stuff. As long as you keep the roots moist, that's all you need, and certainly no negatives to the pine bedding alone.

If your basement isn't heated, that's where I'd suggest you keep them. You really don't want to risk freezing the roots and all the paperwork I've ever been given about newly arrived bareroot trees states if you can't plant them right away to keep them in a cool (but not freezing environment) until they can be planted.

Dax