Planting Bare Root Strawberries and Grapes

If you’re in a hurry to plant those bare root strawberries and grapes (bare root plants have their roots exposed and have to be planted immediately upon purchasing them), you may find yourself jamming the plant into the hole just to try to get the job done. Maybe a sustained kneeling position gets too painful or tiring, so you sacrifice planting these small fruits properly in favor of getting out of pain.

My friend, and Your Gardening Body guest blogger, Deborah Giraud has some great tips on getting a healthy root system to develop in bare root plants. Deborah is the Farm Advisor for UC Cooperative Extension. In March, I’ll have tips on sustained kneeling, on Gen Schmidt’s Northcoast Gardening blog So look for that.

J-Shaped Roots are a No-No

J-Roots in Strawberries and Grapes will Destroy the Root System.

Bare root plants such as strawberries, fruit trees and grape vines are sometimes planted incorrectly and the symptoms don’t show up for some time. I recently saw some strawberry plants with poor growth, dug them up and saw the roots had been jammed in the holes with a planting tool which left them in a neat J shaped configuration. Unfortunately, the roots were strangling themselves and the plant was unable to grow a decent root system.

It is hard to be kneeling and planting for long periods of time, but it is essential to make sure the roots are spread out and have not been crimped and damaged. Similarly, I have heard of grapevines that have been jammed into holes and all the roots get pushed up and damaged. Probably most of these problems are on farms where folks are in a hurry to plant large areas, and in your home garden you can take the time to be gentle and plant correctly.

How to Correctly Plant Small Fruits

Loosened soil added back to a hole with the bareroot plant’s root evenly spaced and spread out is needed for excellent root growth. Dig your shallow hole, create a volcano in the bottom of the hole, spread the roots around that mound and then fill in with the soil you took out.

Soil and Ground for Bare Root Plants

Do not add any amendments to the natural soil. You can create drainage problems by adding a loam or compost into a clayey hole. When an amendment is added, water will flow into the hole and it drain very slowly, drowning the roots. If all the soil is of one type, the water will percolate downward evenly and will not puddle around the roots. Tender root hairs can only survive a matter of hours in water; they need oxygen to survive.

Crowns of any plant should be just a bit higher than grade so that water runs off from the crown. Planting too low can cause problems, and you may find you need to bring in soil. Always till in new soil in as large an area as you can before planting shrubs and trees.

Deborah Giraud, MS, has worked as the UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor in Humboldt County, California for the last 25 years. She is the point person for farmers with production, pest control and marketing questions. She also helps landowners develop new opportunities in agritourism. The website for her office is: http://cehumboldt.ucdavis.edu