BBC presenter Monty Don makes a helpful suggestion about caring for bareroot plants on delivery, but do you have enough hessian?

Monty Don has done more to get girls in the garden than any other handsome, famous face: those cheekbones and that cheeky grin.

For that, he is eternally forgiven for everything as far as our office is concerned.

As Monty fans well know, there is a media cottage industry in his proclamations, which immediately get syndicated everywhere.
A little search for something like “Monty Don issues urgent” will illustrate:

So we were ready and waiting for him when we read the local-ish Devon Live version of his bareroot care advice:

“The 69 year old proposed planting a hawthorn with its bare roots and emphasised the importance of preserving the plants from drying out and dying. He advised viewers to utilise hessian sacks, moisten them, and place them over the plants’ roots – stressing that this precaution should be done ‘immediately’ after receiving the plants.

“When they come, you need to do something about them immediately. You either need to heel them in, which means just simply covering the roots with soil.”

“Or you need to give them a drink for half an hour or so, then cover them up.

“Then as you plant them you must never let the roots be exposed for more than a few minutes, because these very fine roots are the feeding roots, they dry out and then die.

“So what I’ve got here is some hessian, and this is a really good trick. If you’ve got bare root plants, get yourself some hessian and just damp it down.

“That gives you a wet cloth to put over the roots as they’re ready to be planted. So I’ve got a damp cloth that I can lay over them.”

Monty Don

We would never stoop so low as to correct Monty publicly in the hopes that he notices us, makes contact, maybe stops by for a drink, see where the day goes.
No, we only have eyes for you, dear reader, and your precious plants.

And it’s not that The Don is wrong. Using a decent sized wet cloth or sack certainly would work, and could be handy: it’s less weight to lug around than a bucket of water, and won’t blow away in the wind like a plastic bag when it’s not in use.

But in our experience, there is no need for it: the plastic bag that your plants come in is perfectly fine for storing your bareroot plants until planting for at least 2-3 weeks.

When they arrive,

• Remove any outer packaging, unwrap the top of the plants to let them breathe, but leave the roots wrapped in their plastic bag.
• Check the bag for packets or smaller bags taped to it.
• Water the roots thoroughly in the bag with a hose: it’s often easier to poke a hole for the hose at the top of a well tied-up bag than to water through the bag’s mouth.
• When the bag is half full of water, leave it to soak for several hours, overnight is fine. If you are planting immediately, give it 20 minutes at least.
• Gently slice the bag at the base at both bottom corners with a sharp knife to let the water out. Remember, a few hours soak is wonderful, but more than a day underwater is not good, and eventually the roots will drown.
• Check the bags later to make sure they have drained; small holes may get blocked, which jiggling the bag should solve.
• Those roots will not need water again for many days in the cold.

On planting day, you can either take the plants out of their bag as you plant them (pointing the bag’s mouth downwind on a windy day) or use a bucket of water for smaller plants, which is ideal for wetting the roots as much as possible.

We only recommend heeling in bareroot plants if planting is going to be delayed by more than two or three weeks after delivery.
Whether heeling in or not, all you need to remember when storing bareroot plants through freezing weather is don’t move them until they thaw.