Planting Bare Root Plants Sept 2013

We purchased 200 bare root Nordmann fir from a company in the UK these are 2+2 4 years old the tap root has been cut in the second year to encourage more fibrous roots, we purchased these mainly as an experiment to compare with our normal plugcell grown ones which are 2 -3 years old, we have mainly done this to see which ones grow quicker, give a better shape, mortality rate etc, plus the bare root ones are meant to be ready for harvest within 4 years onwards

They are about the same height as our normal plugcell grown ones, the branches are possibly thicker on some, they do have more roots, not all of the bare root plants are the same as in the picture though some were smaller with a lot less roots

The ground was prepared the same way as we do for plugcell grown, After planting at 4ft spacings they were left to allow for some rain before plastic was put around the plants to keep the weeds down