What are Bareroot Trees? 

Bareroot trees have no soil around their roots when delivered. They are only delivered and planted during the winter season, approximately November to March inclusive. 

But there is no soil around the roots!

This is concerning to many first timers, but it really shouldn't be. We are all familiar with flower bulbs that are planted in late Autumn, and they don't even have any roots at that time! 

In the UK, the following are planted bareroot in huge numbers every year: 

• Practically all roadside trees and country hedging 
• The big majority of garden hedging 
• Over half of all rose bushes 
• Almost 90% of fruit trees  

The key word here is dormant. All plants slow down in the winter as temperatures drop and light levels fall. Deciduous specimens (trees and shrubs that lose their leaves in winter) go to sleep completely and almost all cellular activity ceases. Something like suspended animation. Evergreen plants such as yew do not become completely dormant, but they can best be described as being very comatose indeed, so similar rules apply.

Because these plants are "asleep" they have very little need for anything except sufficient dampness at the root to prevent desiccation and cell damage. 

This gives bareroot trees and plants a number of significant advantages over their pot grown versions. Compared to pot grown stock, bareroot plants:

• Are grown in open ground, so they tend to be bigger and stronger
• Are less likely to suffer from the family of diseases generally known as "root rot"
• Are much cheaper to produce and buy, because there are no pots, potting soil, or pot specific watering systems 
• Weigh much less, with no heavy rootballs or pots with compost to pack and transport, so delivery is vastly cheaper too
• Are generally carbon negative, or at least much closer to it

To put it in perspective, 500 bareroot hawthorn hedging plants weighs less than 25kg: easy for most people to carry.
The same plants in 2 litre pots would weigh about a full tonne.
A bareroot, 6/8cm girth standard English oak tree can be easily lifted with one hand. The same tree in a suitably sized pot needs two strong people to lift.

Are there any reasons not to buy Bareroot Trees?

There are some minor disadvantages. Bareroot trees:

• Suffer some root loss when they are lifted. In the long run, this is good as root pruning creates a denser rootball, but in the short term it means they take a little longer to start growing above ground while they establish new roots. This root-loss is proportional to the size of the tree, i.e. the smaller the tree, the less the root loss, and so the faster they establish.
• Need staking and more attentive watering. Because there is no heavy rootball to anchor them and to hold moisture, bareroot plants are likely to blow over in the wind without support, and are more prone to drying out at the root in dry weather.
• Are only moved when dormant, so their planting season is restricted to the months of November - March inclusive (often longer, depending on the weather).