Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

General information and discussion about cultivating fruit-bearing plants, trees, flowers and ornamental plants.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old February 24, 2019   #1
SpookyShoe
Tomatovillian™
 
SpookyShoe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: El Lago, Texas
Posts: 1,100
Default Starting plants from"bare roots"-sedum, phlox, echinacea

I picked up sedum, phlox, and echinacea from Wal-Mart that were bare root plants in some kind of packing material. I've never grown anything like this before. Does anyone have any experience doing this and if so did you have a good outcome?

Hoping to attract butterflies and bees.
__________________
Donna, Zone 9, Texas Gulf Coast
SpookyShoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 24, 2019   #2
MissMoustache
Tomatovillian™
 
MissMoustache's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Cold hardy zone 4b-5a, Heat zone 4-5, Sunset zone 43
Posts: 228
Default

I've used these and the ones from Aldi. They work fine. I pot them up and baby them for 4 to 6 weeks.

I even kept some more sun sensitive things like hostas and plants that were quite small in pots all spring and summer until I could plant in early fall when the weather was cooler and the ground was damper.
__________________
Books, cats, gardening...life is good!

gwendolyninthegarden.blogspot.com
MissMoustache is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 24, 2019   #3
SpookyShoe
Tomatovillian™
 
SpookyShoe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: El Lago, Texas
Posts: 1,100
Default

I planted mine directly into the ground. Wish me luck. How long did it take for yours to sent up green growth?
__________________
Donna, Zone 9, Texas Gulf Coast
SpookyShoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 25, 2019   #4
clkeiper
Tomatovillian™
 
clkeiper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
Default

the one thing I can warn you about is if it feels dried out and nothing there... that is probably the case. they allow these displays to sit in too warm of areas and the roots die. so feel the packages by isolating each root, bulb corm etc, that is supposed to be in there and give it a firm squish. if it feels like nothing or crumbles between your fingers don't waste your money on whatever it is. if you buy it and cant plant it immediately put it in the bottom of the fridge for a few days or weeks but continually check it. you don't want it to mold in there.
__________________
carolyn k
clkeiper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 25, 2019   #5
greenthumbomaha
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Omaha Zone 5
Posts: 2,514
Default

If it's not too late, save the packaging and receipt. Walmart will refund anything with at lesat a piece of something to bring back. The cashier at Lowes said they get bare root plants like strawberries and blackberries all the time.As carolyn k mentioned, it is best to purchase bare roots early in the season so they won't be dried out.



If you watered the bare root in, it should show signs of shoots pretty quickly if the soil is warm. They really won't come into their own in terms of size and bloom for another year or two. Lowe's and Home Depot have the same return policy and I find their bare root plants are much more robust in size. They have some very nice bare root plants at the warehouse clubs too.
greenthumbomaha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 26, 2019   #6
SpookyShoe
Tomatovillian™
 
SpookyShoe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: El Lago, Texas
Posts: 1,100
Default

Green, if it takes a year or two for the plants to come into their own, I won't wait that long. If they plants don't appear vigorous when they emerge, I'll yank them and replace them with plants from a nursery. I should be able to find coneflower and phlox. Maybe sedum, I'm not sure about that one. I threw the packaging away. : (
__________________
Donna, Zone 9, Texas Gulf Coast
SpookyShoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 27, 2019   #7
clkeiper
Tomatovillian™
 
clkeiper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
Default

Spooky, they should be decent plants as long as the roots were viable when you planted them. the sedum though will take quite some time to form a nice mat. be patient with that one. you might want to keep a close eye on it and pinch the ends as soon as you see nice growth. that forces the stem to make lateral branches filling it in quicker. then lay the little piece of sedum right on the ground and give it the chance to root in place.
__________________
carolyn k
clkeiper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 27, 2019   #8
greenthumbomaha
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Omaha Zone 5
Posts: 2,514
Default

Absolutely don't give up on them, they are just babies and will grow into full sized plants. With your extended growing season it may mature sooner than a northern grower. Just think of a 4 inch plant vs a gallon plant. If the plant has been growing for more than one season, it will have more eyes or bigger roots and you will have a proportionately larger plant with more blooms. You can easily transplant to a less prominent area where you can watch it grow, and then eventually divide for more plants. Sleep , creep. leap!
- Lisa
greenthumbomaha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old February 28, 2019   #9
SpookyShoe
Tomatovillian™
 
SpookyShoe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: El Lago, Texas
Posts: 1,100
Default

My concern now is if they don't drown or rot due to a very wet winter and early spring. Very little sun to dry things out. I'll stay their execution and give it a little time to see if they make it.

Question: Are the bare roots supposed to show any green whatsoever? Mine were totally brown.
__________________
Donna, Zone 9, Texas Gulf Coast

Last edited by SpookyShoe; February 28, 2019 at 05:08 PM.
SpookyShoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 1, 2019   #10
SpookyShoe
Tomatovillian™
 
SpookyShoe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: El Lago, Texas
Posts: 1,100
Default

It looks like the sedum is coming up!
__________________
Donna, Zone 9, Texas Gulf Coast
SpookyShoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old March 2, 2019   #11
clkeiper
Tomatovillian™
 
clkeiper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
Default

That's good news. I have had pretty good luck with these plants but I always pinch each root to feel for structure too. A few times I have had duds but not often.
__________________
carolyn k
clkeiper is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 2, 2019   #12
roper2008
Tomatovillian™
 
roper2008's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Virginia Bch, VA (7b)
Posts: 1,337
Default

I bought bare root phlox from Costco. I planted them immediately. It’s been around 2 weeks now. No sign of green yet? It’s still early though.
roper2008 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old April 2, 2019   #13
SpookyShoe
Tomatovillian™
 
SpookyShoe's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: El Lago, Texas
Posts: 1,100
Default

My bare root phlox from Wal-Mart never came up. I think the "roots" had decomposed too much in the bag. Good luck with yours
__________________
Donna, Zone 9, Texas Gulf Coast
SpookyShoe is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:54 PM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★