Bareroot plants
- To: s*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
- Subject: Bareroot plants
- From: N* S*
- Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 09:34:32 -0400
I seem to be doing something wrong with these plants. I have a Lonicera
periclymenum 'Serotina Florida' that I ordered from Wayside and that came
bareroot. I watered the already damp roots (maybe I should have soaked
them?) and put the plant, which is supposed to prefer partial shade, behind
a hydrangea and in front of a trellis on a south-facing (but highly blocked)
white wall on my house. The plant gets two to three hours of direct midday
sun; dappled the rest of the day. After about two months it has produced the
beginnings of leaves several times, but they have all withered off. The
plant roots are near (maybe too near) a soaker hose so I don't think the
plant has been underwatered. I've been feeding with RootsPlus once a month.
Maybe the white wall is too hot? I had trouble last year with a bareroot
shrub from Wayside and I've been thinking that maybe this is a climate
problem--since I'm in NYC and Wayside is so far south. However, I have also
had difficulty getting three bareroot cuttings of Rubus odoratus started;
these came from Primrose Path which is south of me (in Penn.) but colder
because it's in the mountains. These shrubs grow wild about 100 yards from
my house so you'd think they'd be happy as a clam, and in fact ones I got
last year are now four feet high. But I put the cuttings in pots (without
soaking the roots) and they started to produce leaves but then lost them in
the wind or rain. Is there any way to tell if these plants are still alive?
I'm thinking of putting the honeysuckle in a big pot but I'm also afraid
I'll harm the roots if I transplant it, especially when the weather's been
so tough on plants (hot and dry). If I move it, should I soak the roots
first in a light fertilizer?
Thanks,
Nancy S.
