I did put them in water for a couple of hours, but took them out and put a paper towel around the roots, put them loosely in a plastic bag and in the refrigerator for the night and got most of them in the ground today. I have two left over that I have to figure a place to put them. [g] Thank you all! I have my fingers crossed that they will grow. I always feel so uncertain about bare root plants, especially with a strawberry that you have to plant the crown at just the right level. I wonder if I am doing it right. These plants were originally from Nourse, so they should be okay. Thank you all! :-)

I just received a plant from David Austin--moistened plant wrapped loosely several times in a somewhat heavy plastic. The instructions were to not soak the plant. Leave it wrapped in plastic in a place where it wouldn't freeze (the garage, in my case) and check occasionally to see that it is still moist. It recommended planting the rose fairly soon--though I've forgotten if that was within a few hours or a few days. However, most of the other places I've ordered from in the past have said to soak the plant at least overnight to several days or a week--which is what I usually do. However, I can remember a couple times in the past--for one reason or another--having to leave the rose soaking for nearly a month. I planted those plants and they grew, but they never were the strongest plants--kinda weakly. I probably should have been more careful about changing the water (and/or adding a drop of bleach) if I had to keep them soaking that long. My advice: try to plant the rose within a couple day, or at least no longer than a week, if at all possible, but if life interferes (or Mother Nature decides to send a rip-roaring storm for a couple weeks), don't panic--the roses will probably survive even if they have to soak for several weeks. I only soak up to the graft, but I have sometimes sprayed the top canes so they wouldn't dry out too badly. Kate

i would remove anything contrary to mother nature ... years ago.. i had a hosta supplier do such.. i left it.. many died.. i dont know if the goo was the cause ... research and advice.. can make mother nature.. and the process predictable ... as far as i am concerned.. this is adding a variable ... and too many unknown variables.. usually lead to a failure ... that said.. if you are doing many.. experiment with leaving it.. on a few ... no one ever learned anything without an experiment .... but i would probably keep the media rather dry.. which is what you should do anyway.. for a tree .... [after good watering in on the transplant, of course] all that said, again .... sounds like an interesting way to insure the roots dont dry out completely in shipping ... ken

Conventional wisdom says to plant bare root when the ground has warmed up enough to sustain the plant. For strawberries, that would be when the soil is about 50ð and/or when lilacs bloom. With some cover you might be ok to try 45ð or when lilacs leaf. For me that is between May 1st and May 15th. If you already have them, put them in some loose wet sand and keep in a cool dark place for several weeks. Of course the time frame changes if you have raised beds. I would still use the soil temp.