When it comes to growing strawberries, there are different seed and plant options. But there is one choice that rises above the rest: bare-root strawberry plants.
This is the one choice that is the best overall. Here are ten reasons to choose bare-root strawberry plants over seeds, potted plants, or plugs.
Jump to:
- 1. The most affordable option for strawberry plants
- 2. Widest variety of options
- 3. Shipped to you when you should be planting (most of the time)
- 4. Cheap and easy to ship
- 5. Less damage in shipping
- 6. Soil-free
- 7. Come vernalized or cold treated
- 8. Reduced risk of transplant shock
- 9. Can be planted earlier than transplants or plugs
- 10. Early planting of dormant roots promotes strong root growth, supporting strong plant growth
- The Most Popular and Reliable Way to Grow Strawberries
1. The most affordable option for strawberry plants
Bare-root strawberry plants are by far the most affordable option for growing strawberries. They are sold in bundles of usually 10 or more, for a fraction of the price of the same amount of potted plants or plugs.
If you’re growing strawberries, you’re going to want to put in a sizable patch. The most affordable way to do that is with bare-root plants.
2. Widest variety of options
Because most growers sell strawberry plants in bare root form, you will have the best variety and the most options with bare root plants.
Potted transplants will be limited to just a few that you can buy locally. You will find some online sellers and catalogs offering potted plants, but they will be quite limited in variety.
Seeds will be even more limited because productive strawberries are largely hybrids that aren’t propagated from seeds.
In order to be able to choose the right strawberries for your location, you’ll get the widest variety from bare roots.
3. Shipped to you when you should be planting (most of the time)
Most plant and seed catalogs plan and time shipping by location.
That means that you can order your bare roots as soon as ordering opens for the new year but that the more reputable sellers won’t ship them until it’s about the right time for planting. And they will determine that by zone, location, or postal code, so their shipping calendars are pretty accurate.
This helps take a lot of the guesswork out of when you should buy and plant your new strawberry plants.
4. Cheap and easy to ship
Part of what makes bare roots so affordable is that it doesn’t cost much to ship them. The packages and bundles are small. There is no soil or large, bulky pots to ship. Bundles of 25 or more can easily fit in a standard shipping envelope.
Packages are small, light, and easy to ship, so the shipping expense is very low.
5. Less damage in shipping
Bare roots are flexible and light and roots are strong — stronger than green plant foliage. The root bundles are easy to pack. It doesn’t matter what end of the shipping envelope is “up.”
That means there is less to be damaged in shipping, and plants endure less damage as a result.
6. Soil-free
Dormant bare-root strawberries do not come in soil. That means the potential for insects or diseases shipping in soil and infecting your yard and garden is much lower.
It also means bare-root plants can be sterilized before shipping. Overall, it’s a healthier way to ship plants without a high risk of shipping fungal spores and diseases or pests.
7. Come vernalized or cold treated
Cold vernalization is part of the natural cycle of strawberry plant growth. It gives the plants a rest, sending them into dormancy. It also stimulates them to take off growing when warm spring conditions arrive.
By planting vernalized dormant roots, you don’t upset this natural cycle, and the planted bare roots take off quickly, not even realizing they’re out of the ground.
8. Reduced risk of transplant shock
Because the plants are basically “waking up” in the soil you plant them in, they do not experience transplant shock. …Because they are not yet growing, so there’s nothing to shock.
Transplant shock can set potted transplants back by weeks. Add that to potential damage in shipping, and there is a lot of potential to set a plant back.
Bare root plants wake up quickly once they are in the soil and once they sense warmth, sun, and moisture. On balance, bare-root strawberries often end up being ahead of shipped and shocked transplants.
9. Can be planted earlier than transplants or plugs
Bare-root strawberries can go in the ground as soon as the soil is workable, basically, as soon as you can dig it. If conditions are right and warming, the plants will wake up and grow. If your spring is delayed, they will simply remain dormant in the ground just as they would have if they had overwintered there.
This means earlier planting and a jump ahead for bare roots in the ground. But it also means less guesswork trying to figure out when it is safe to plant out potted plants that are already growing and lush with more tender foliage.
There is also no need to harden off bare-root strawberries or to acclimatize them to their new environment.
10. Early planting of dormant roots promotes strong root growth, supporting strong plant growth
The fact that you can get dormant plants in when the soil is cool and that they awaken and grow on cue from Mother Nature means that they are in the ground at the best time of year for root growth.
Plants grow roots under cool conditions. It’s their way of preparing for the foliar growth and production period ahead. Warm weather and warm soil, which comes shortly after transplanting time for potted strawberry transplants, signals strawberries to shift to green growth and blossoming.
If plants don’t have good root growth under them, they can struggle to support foliar growth, flowering, and berry production, all of which demand a lot from a plant and its roots.
So, earlier planting time and cool time in the ground can result in better acclimated, larger, stronger plants in the end.
The Most Popular and Reliable Way to Grow Strawberries
Bare-root strawberries are the most popular option for a reason (several, in fact). Bare roots are the hands-down most economical choice for new strawberry plantings. They are also reliable. These are some of the top reasons why bare-root strawberry plants have become the industry norm.
Leave a Reply