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Why Bare Roots? Hypericum Grow-a-Long (4th November 2024)

Bare Roots are not pot plants, you can only order bare root plants from late Autumn to late Winter when plants go into natural dormancy.

Growers dig them up from their fields to order.

Bare Roots are not only cheaper than pot plants, but they establish much faster because their roots have been grown free in the ground, not wound round and round over many years in a pot.

This means the roots will be free of soil. Roses are very popular bare root plants. Bare Roots are often sold as a bundle of woody stems in the plant nursery.

Not all plants are suitable to be sold as bare roots.

For those that are lovely fresh new growth will emerge spring, or sooner if we have a mild autumn and winter.

You don’t get the ‘wow factor’ out of purchasing bare root plants, they can look a little sad on delivery. However once tried you will be forever converted, if you think about it, they are just like a Bulb or Dahlia Tuber.

There is nothing more exciting that seeing those new shoots emerge!

Love Zoe

Are you ready for them!

Hypericum are very easy plants to grow, however I have included as much information as I can think of to ensure you have the best results.

Remove plants from the packaging as soon as they arrive and place plants in a bucket of water so that the roots are entirely submerged. Don’t forget to tie a label on them.

Leave them to soak for up to 12 hours (or overnight) before potting up into containers for best results.

Plants look pretty sorry for themselves when they first arrive. This is just down to the lack of water.

Note: These are bare roots, we are not expecting or needing the foliage to survive, it does however protect the stems nicely in transit. 

All the new growth comes from lower down behind the old tips and berries.

After soaking you can go ahead and trim off the tops but keeping the branches as the framework where rosettes of new leaves will appear.

Plants also shoot from the base of the plant.

All the leaves will be replaced (hypericums are deciduous) so any that have not already dropped will over the winter). New leaves will be fresh and blemish free.

Stems will already feel firmer after a soak. These bare root plants are a generous size, you will need at least a 2 or 3 litre container depending on the size and shape. This will give plants ample room to settle in and start to grow.

Add a layer of fresh multi purpose compost to the bottom of each pot, settle the plant in and fill all around covering all the roots up to the lowest stems and branches.

Plants will need pruning either now or in the spring to remove apical dominance and last years flowering stems.

Tidy plants up by cutting back to a set of leaves or a node if stems are already bare. and remove any snapped or damaged growth, this will ensure shoots get a good fresh start. Plants are in tip top health, they are protected by breeders rights, certified virus and disease free.

You don’t want to introduce any pests or diseases that might be lurking in old compost or dirty pots. Use fresh shop bought compost, clean your pots and only use tap water (not rain water which can have pathogens in it) to get them off to the very best start.

Water in well and make sure you add a label now. At the moment it might look obvious which variety is which, but by spring the berries will have gone and the leaves replaced with fresh blemish free growth. It will be impossible to tell which is peach and which is ivory in the spring. Remember plants are deciduous.

Bare Root Plants – all the new growth and shoots come from behind the old leaves and berries.

Tidy up plants and improve airflow by giving them a prune while it’s still relatively warm.

Next spring plants will produce new shoots from this neat frame work you have created and those are the stems that will flower and fruit.

What to expect when your bare roots arrive and looking forward (to get us all excited) how to harvest stems in the summer.

Much more in your handbook….

Next video coming up shortly as we grow these plants on together…