Bareroot Shipping

[Fygmalion]

I am curious and would like the SME's on the forum to opine...

At what point in a figs growth cycle (for the purposes of this discussion let's use a rooted cutting aged a number of months and vigorously leafed out), does it become impractical to remove the plant from its growth medium in order to ship it bareroot, package it, box it, ship it, receive it at the other end and repot it in order to have the best expectation / chance for that fig to re-establish itself and take?

I would have thought best time for shipping bare root would be while the fig is still dormant or just barely emerging but I read where the business plan for shipping a large quantity of recently rooted cuttings to buyers across the country involves doing so bareroot commencing within the next week or so and continuing through the spring and summer and likely into fall.... Is bare root shipping in this context a reasonable plan that will result in mostly satisfied customers with successfully growing fig trees?

Thanks,
T

[Tonycm]

I'm not a big fan of ordering bareroot trees if at all possible. I think it retards their growth and can take awhile for them to fully recover. I think it would be best for it to be fully dormant especially a fig tree. Figs can be picky about having their roots disturbed when newly rooted.

[Fygmalion]

Thanks for the feedback... I would imagine the deeper it gets into the full growing season across the country, the bigger the concern with bare root shipping would be as far as shock to the plant and subsequent recovery before the next winter cycle...

[WillsC]

You can bare root while dormant no problem, if you completely bare root a growing plant, problem. Bare rooting a rooted cutting while growing? Yikes.......I would guess a bare minimum 50% death rate. It really depends on how much root the plant has and how strong they are. You can partially bare root a growing plant and they do fine. By that I mean....removing the soil off of the bottom half of the rootball but leave the top half completely in tact. Sorry but bare rooting a cutting down to its roots devoid of soil is simply not caring if the plant lives or dies. Sometimes growing plants that are not barerooted but instead are shipped in the pot intact don't take the mailing process well.

[Fygmalion]

Thanks for the response... Your comments definitely echo my thoughts.... it sounds to me based on feedback so far that bare root shipping of leafed out rooted cuttings and juvenile plants to fulfill purchase orders is going to lead to considerable angst when those plants are received and do not have good survivorship...

[cjmach1973]

If I have a plant that I know I am going to ship out bare root later in the year, I mix a little sand with the soil when I up pot it. That makes the soil come off real easy when it's time to ship. You just have to water a little more during the growing season.

[Fygmalion]

I don't know... Take a 12" Ponte Tresa and bare root it and package it carefully to protect the roots and the leafed out top and then put it into a USPS shipping box in July and send it across country or along the north / south corridor possibly traveling by temperature uncontrolled truck thru a heat spell and then further subjected to local delivery handling... What are the chances that PT is going to be delivered in good shape?

[TorontoJoe]

I just had this discussion with Pino in Niagara. He generally sells trees 1', 2-3' and 4'. He only ships the 2-3' trees bare root. If I understand its that the 1' is too small and beyond the 3' too big... Mostly a matter of size for shipping. And as Wills said....Bare root while dormant....

I got some very nice 1 gallon Negronne's @ 1' tall last year with pot shipped from Dany at Brugmansia. Packed properly they arrived just fine.

[dkirtexas]

I have received bare root trees at many different times of the year and I have never lost a tree, Lucky probably.

I am not sure the model of the package in a truck applies, because I don't know how long it takes for the heat to saturate the load to get to a box that is probably in a container inside a larger container. One thing I do know is that the pack those trailers as tight as they can get them. I do not know about the airplane cargo holds and containers but I think they are not pressurized and may not be heated, I don't know. I also do not know if removing some of the soil is beneficial.

I have been very lucky and have not lost cuttings, trees rooted, or trees bare rooted to shipping issues. I do not ship bare root, if it worth shipping, it is worth the extra money to leave it in the pot with the root ball/soil intact, why risk it.

[Fygmalion]

Agreed...

[Harborseal]

Some people wash the soil off then wrap the roots in wet newspaper and put that in a plastic bag. Not optimal but it can be done.

[ThaiFigs]

Some states like California require bare rooting live plants, I believe. I could be wrong, since I don't ship there.

[TorontoJoe]

Am I to understand that even within the continental US you can't just freely ship plants? This is new to me. I know we have regulations for international import in Canada but as far as I know there's no restriction or regulation between any location within the country. I figured that would be the case in all countries since nothing is being imported.

[Fygmalion]

No, Joe... there are indeed restrictions on shipping between some states... they vary but they do exist. In my mind, states like California have every right to choose to protect their agricultural segment from incursion by invading pests... likely a loosing battle but one that makes sense to fight. Think about the citrus crops, stone fruit crops, grape based industries, etc that could be leveled by an invasive species that got out of hand... California is very careful about restricting imports of plants into the state; as ThaiFigs, stated... bare root plant shipping where even permitted is the least of it...

[TorontoJoe]

Fair enough - I can only assume that it's not as big a deal here given our cooler climate crops. No citrus here, and even vineyards exist only in a few very small pockets. I suppose our cold winters keep many of the pests from taking over.....

[WillsC]

There are indeed restrictions. It varies by where you live to where you want to send. For me in Florida I am restricted on CA, LA, NC, AZ, Texas and MS. Many of them are for the same reasons and some different reasons. Take NC, it is to avoid a weed. Some states are fire ants some are snails and some are nematodes. I am currently wallowing through the process to get my stamps for each of those states that restrict Florida. It is a PROCESS. The only state I won't bother with is Hawaii as it just isn't worth all the hoops.

[TorontoJoe]

Seems to make sense that the most vulnerable to these problems would be the warm states where an unwanted pest could really take off. Do any northern states restrict incoming domestic plants?

I'd imagine those in Canada's northern territories would welcome species from other parts...any species.... Last year I met a bunch of students from Nunavut (Google it) who came south for the first time. Some of them seemed stunned. I asked why .... Many had never seen a tree before.... Can you imagine?

[ThaiFigs]

I had a similar response from my brother once when he came to visit me. Couldn't get over all the big trees. He had been living in Brownsville, TX.

[ThaiFigs]

Packing and shipping tons of cuttings is a lot of work. Packing and shipping live plants, much more work. Packing and shipping plants after first bare rooting them? I get exhausted just thinking of how much work that will be.

[WillsC]

I agree completely.

[fruitnut]

It can take a half hr to bare root a tree. Then an hr to package a tree bare root or otherwise. At least that's about what it takes me when you consider everything like preparing the boxes, printing out the label, etc.

I haven't bare rooted too many plants but won't even consider it for a tree that was rooted less than about 6 months. And never during hot weather. It's hard enough shipping in hot weather even with the best 6-12 month old tree.