What is the difference between bareroot and potted plants?

There are several main differences between bareroot and potted plants, namely: how they are packaged, size and age, transplantability, price, and shipping.

Packaging: Potted plants are, as the title suggests, plants that are in plastic pots while bareroot plants have no soil or pots, just their bare roots. We package our bareroot plants in plastic bags with damp sawdust around their roots to prevent them from drying out while they are waiting to be planted. We reuse our pots and welcome returns.

Size and Age: Our potted stock is typically 1-2 years older than bareroot plants and may start bearing fruit a bit sooner, however as potted trees tend to be more stressed out (any tree typically prefers to be planted in the ground rather than potted), they may require a longer period of acclimation to the new soil, giving bareroot trees the advantage in the end.

Transplantability: Although potted plants tend to be bigger, we find that bareroot plants tend to transplant more readily, adapting to their new environment faster and making up for the difference in growth over time. However, bareroot plants should be planted within a few days while potted plants can stay in their pot for up to a year. 

Price: Bareroot plants are cheaper than potted plants since they require less time, care, and materials on our part. Our wholesale and quantity discounts only apply to bareroot plants although we generally have smaller seasonal quantity discounts for potted plants as well.

Shipping: We are able to ship bareroot plants although we do not ship outside of Canada and are unable to send any Malus, Pyrus, Cydonia, Prunus, or Vitis species to BC. We are unable to ship potted plants because they are too heavy and bulky to ship economically.