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When purchasing garden plants, is it better to buy bare root plants or plants that are already in soil...?

When purchasing garden plants, is it better to buy bare root plants or plants that are established in a pot of soil? Why?

Public Comments

1. I like plants already in soil. Bare root plants are subject to more shock as they are exposed to the air for a while. Plants in soil are more protected and therefore more likely to do better when put into the ground.
2. Bare rooted plants can only be planted at certain times of the year. most can only be planted in the autumn as they are dormant. You should only plant them in the autumn when the ground is not waterlogged or frozen. Pot grown tend to be a little more expensive But can be planted any time of the year but again as long as the ground is not waterlogged or frozen.
3. Plants in soil will establish faster and be less likely to fail. However, if you are planting now (or better, for bare root, in early fall when they will have wetter, cooler conditions, but still enough time to establish before frost), you can plant bare root if you keep it extremely well tended (mulch it good...not touching the stems, though, and water it deeply and often if the ground is dry). Usually people go for bareroot for economical reasons or because that's the only way they can get the plant (lots of mail order are bare root).
4. Most plants typically require a medium (soil) in order to get them from point A to point B. Annuals (such as) vegetables and some flowers do better when purchased in soil and transplanted with the roots and soil intact. The leaves and stems will quickly collapse and die from stress if you wash away the dirt from the root ball prior to transplanting. You will get better results buy washing away most of the soil from the root balls of (perennials) such as trees and shrubs, pruning away large twisted roots before transplanting into a prepared hole, back-filling with amended soil and watering in well. Trees and shrubs having a hard (bark) for support, can take the removal of most or all the soil prior to transplant. Removing the larger twisted roots enables energy to be routed/supplied to the smaller developing root systems that grow faster than over-developed twisted roots from a plant that has become root bound in a pot.