[AlistairMcLennan]

Hi,

I received 10 Bareroot Strawberry Plants from T & M as an offer on GYO magazine.  I assume its too early to plant them out due to the cold. When is the best time plant them on & hoe do I keep them alive till then?

[Yorkie]

They can be planted out once the soil is thawed.

In the meantime, rehydrate the roots in a bucket of water for 24 hours, then put them in some compost in pots until you're ready to plant them out.

[Caretaker]

I have put my ones in some compost in the cold greenhouse but will plant out when the weather gets a bit better, hopefully in 3 to 4 weeks time.

[salome2001]

make sure you don't cover the roots with the compost
Also I hope yours look better than the ones I got from them last year- they spent a weekend in the delivery offoce which probably didn't help, but they were goners - 3/16 lived. They replaced them last week, but the replacements looked almost as bad. I know bareroots are not at their best when dormant, but the ones I've got from Wilko were far healthier looking

[Yorkie]

make sure you don't cover the roots with the compost

Why ever not?  They are designed to be planted ... in compost or soil, it makes no difference.  The bare root is only because they are dormant and cuts down on transportation costs.

[JayG]

Perhaps Salome2001 meant "crowns" rather than "roots" (hope so anyway or she (?) is in for a bit of a disappointment!)