Examine nursery stock as soon as you receive it. Check for correct varieties, rootstock, size, number of plants, dryness, mechanical injury, insect and disease injury, and cold injury. To check for cambial cold injury, take a sharp knife and cut through the bark to the cambium area of the trunk just above and below the bud union. If the cambium is brown or off-color, cold injury has occurred.

If you purchase container-grown stock, be sure to keep the roots damp and to protect plants from severe winter temperatures that might freeze the roots. An increasing number of fruit plants, such as blueberry, grape, and blackberry, and some tree fruits, are available in containers. You may find that a containerized plant is easier to handle and maintain than a bare-root plant.

If you purchase bare-root plants, check to see if they are sufficiently moist. If they will not be planted the day they arrive, you can keep bare-root plants for several days in refrigerated storage if it is available. Maintain humidity at 90 percent or higher, but do not leave excess moisture on plants. Do not store fruit plants in refrigerated areas that also contain fruit or vegetables (such as apples) that give off ethylene gas. Ethylene gas will severely injure or damage plants.

If refrigerated storage is not available, heel-in bare-root tree fruits or small fruit plants such as grapes, blackberries, and blueberries as follows:

• Remove wrapping material.
• Dig a beveled trench in an east-west direction. Make sure the sides are angled, not straight down.
• Place trees in the trench, and cover all tissue with soil except for the upper 12 to 18 inches of the top. The roots should be covered with at least 8 to 12 inches of soil to protect them from freezing.
• Do not use soil that is infested with nematodes or disease. Use soil in a virgin area or, if possible, soil that has been fumigated.