Well Ken, hafta disagree...lol...only because I HAVE to buy my stuff in that condition due to finances (or lack thereof...lol). I've got many a great plant (eventually) from Dollar General, Big Lots, etc....in those nasty little bags with sawdust and holes in them where it's grown out of it's comfort zone, all crunched up inside. But I feels it's my duty to rescue 'em, plant 'em, and give 'em a good, loving home....lol. But seriously, I'd have never guessed the 'bean sprout' description was new growth but now that I think about it....that's EXACTLY what it looks like. So Paul...I commmend you on figuring out the right thing. Were the bare roots still firm (not mushy or dried out?) and did you plant the main plant so that the lower white part was beneath the soil and the green part above? (You can sacrifice the bean sprout thingy if you didn't get that one right....wont' hurt it). You just don't wanna put too much green part DOWN too deep or vice versa...not too much white up too high. But if you DID, I wouldn't disturb it now. If it went thru living in a bag, it's probably tough enough to survive. To be honest, I like buying abused and half-dying plants. I feel if they can survive in bad conditions then I've got a pretty good chance of not killing them....lol. Give it love and it will follow...lol. Bonnie

Mat, yeah I have 2018 and 2019 to write up. I have all my notes. Just have to find time. I checked out Pepiniere casse noisette website. They do not list their rootstocks anywhere that I can find. What rootstocks are your pears, peaches, apricots on? Honestly, a lot of what they are selling, at least in apricots, peach, nectarines seem to me to be VERY marginal for their climate. In many case they mention useful for growing in pots but if that is the case how are they propagating for sale? I don't want to disparage them without information but my impression is they might be reselling . You absolutely need to be buying based upon root-stock. For apples I am not only buying on Bud118 as it has best cold hardiness and is vigorus for our short seasons - Bud9 is just too slow. Train and prune to keep the size you want. Pears on OHxF87 or 97 and prune/train. I have found PAW-PAWs to be marginal in 4b - still 3' tall after 5+ years. Blueberries don't like my soil so Haskasps and Currants are much better. You have better options than Indigo Gem, Aurora is good though. Pink Lemonade is like a zone 5/6 plant, I see little chance of it surviving. Both Whiffletree and vigneschezsoi are good options. Be aware that a 1-2 year old bare root grape vine will bear fruit 1-2 years faster than the same year rooted cuttings you will get from vigneschezsoi. If you are only buying a couple might want to spend a couple extra $$ to get fruit a whole year or 2 earlier. Somerset and Trolhaugen are good. Had a couple Brianna this year, not enough to really say. Get Bluebell as well. I suggest 10-15' between vines. Can go closer but I am of the hack back 90% every year and then let grow. Trollhaugen can put out 12-15' of growth in 1 year alone - plant closer and you have to keep on top of canopy thinning to avoid overgrowth. Apples and pears will benefit from bagging with ziplocs. Grapes I bag with Organza bags when starting to turn color. So far I am loosing 99% of stone fruit (plums) to plum curlico and the rest to birds/racoons (can't bag plums - they rot). All peaches die. Trying apricots but no fruit yet. Don't get too caught up on types of fruit. Buy something disease resistant on a hardy, vigorus rootstock then topwork as you get enough branch structure. You will then be able to test fruit to see what you like or not within 3 years of grafting. My crabapple is now up to 65+ different apples grafted to it.

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

@floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK Perhaps I am. Indeed, I know I am overcomplicating this. Apologies. I guess? While I appreciate your offer of help (or maybe, more precisely, the claim that you are offering help). . . let me just say that I feel as though, from your tone--you decidedly do not understand what it means to be on a fixed income and rent (e.g., not have any long-term commitment to the garden you're trying to improve). I don't have time; that's exactly it. Annuals just make more sense. It's unfortunate that I have some shade, but I have to make the most of it and figure out what works for me. I can't spend $400 on plants; I don't think I can spend $200 on plants, frankly. And then all the other stuff @floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK: e.g., Hall's Honeysuckle might seem to you to be ugly and "potentially invasive,"--admittedly, it is in most places--but it decidedly is not in Portland, Oregon, from every single source I've read. And trust me, I'm thorough. I just want something that will thrive and grow quickly despite my difficult soil conditions. That's why answers like those of @einportlandor are a little more helpful, you know? "Yeah, I was broke, too, I understand how you feel... planted poppies and nasturtium and it all worked out fine!" This isn't rocket science. I just want my backyard to look nice. On the super-cheap. I don't need cutting comments for no good reason guised as "help." And to address your query re the soil; argh. I have done everything within my very limited means and power to fix the soil problems and spent approximately $700 in the past year in the wrong-headed attempt to do so: I mixed in 6" of compost 2x by double digging and excavated about 50 gallons of pebbles/rocks and a miscellany of items left by previous tenants. I created a swale and taught myself how to build a rain garden to handle what the gutters can't manage; I regraded the yard, aerated the lawn; etc. etc. This year, I decided to give up on anything more than a little patch o' grass for my dog and constructed "lasagne"-like raised beds (not supported by anything; my landlord won't let me install anything permanent, like even a floating deck, but I put down wood chips everywhere else. It's the only way that I'll anything approaching meaningful drainage (on my budget) and not spoil even moisture-friendly perennials. Forgive me; just a bit frustrated by what feeling like I've been subjected to [inexplicable] derision/passive-aggression rather than been helped. I'll back out slowly now . . . I honestly don't believe you really even want to look at photos or mappings of my garden (other than to get in something that might be helpful but will definitely be officious). I don't ever do this but this nice/mean thing sucks and I just had to respond; sorry. Thanks all.