Turnbull Nursery’s Bare Root Barn

Eco-Friendly

Bare Root plants are the true GREEN option. They take up less space, have lower shipping costs & no plastic containers!

Economical

No costs for soil, no container costs & less weight to ship keeps costs lower than typical container plants.

Planting Ease

No added weight from soil makes bare-root trees and plants easier for customers to transport & can make for quick planting.

Planting Tips

Performance

Bare Root plants frequently take off more quickly than container plants because roots don’t have to transition from container soil to local soil.

What is Bare Root and what are the benefits?

Turnbull Nursery Garden Center starts off the Western New York spring selling season early by offering bare root nursery stock that can be planted as soon as the frost leaves the ground.

Bare root nursery stock is quality trees, shrubs, small fruits, fruit trees and ornamental vines that are in a dormant stage, have no soil around the roots and are not potted or balled and burlaped. They are removed from the ground in the fall and spring when dormant, stored in climate controlled coolers and with minimal care when planted, bloom into beautiful plants. Bareroot stock is usually sold during a four to six week period in the spring before warm weather arrives. Turnbull’s Bareroot Barn is generally open mid-March to May 1st.

Traditionally, plants have been sold bare root with many advantages to consumers. The most important consumer benefit is increased cost savings over potted plants. The same plant in bare root can be half the price of that is a pot. Lighter weight bare root plants require less freight and shipping expense – the savings are passed on to consumers in the form of lower prices. Buying bareroot helps the environment with no plastic pots and less pollution and fuel consumption in shipping. Also, consumers can make their early spring purchases in larger quantities with space-saving bareroot plants.

During the Month of March & April, customers can come in and purchase bare root plants. If the weather is not conducive for planting, we will hold your plants in our underground storage. As soon as your ground is ready for planting, pick up your plants and get them plants in the ground immediately. All bare root plants must be planted no later than May 1st. Get them in the ground as soon as possible, don’t wait until May 1st if you don’t have to!

Turnbull’s trained and knowledgeable staff can assist customers with the selection of their bare root plants that best fit their needs. Verbal and written handling and planting instructions will be given to make this process easy.

The Bare Root Barn is generally open from mid- March until May 1st and plants are sold while they are still in dormancy. It is best to get them planted as soon as possible so that the plants wake up from dormancy naturally with the weather. If we have an unusually warm April, the Barn may close before May 1st.

The 2025 BARE ROOT BARN order form will not be posted until the week before we open for the 2025 season. If you are looking for something specific or a large quantity of a variety, please let us know before December 1, 2024 so that we can try to procure the plants for you.

Please remember that most, not all, Bare Root Plants have an October 1st warranty. If you are having a problem with the plant, you must notify us or return the dead plant by October 1st of the year purchased for the warranty to be honored. Please refer to your receipt for all warranty information. Thank you!

In 1998, the Turnbull family started working with a Swiss engineer to manufacture a one of a kind, custom bare root plant harvester that is still in use today on our farm. In fall 2000, we began to use it for our harvest. It turned a very laborious, back breaking job of harvesting plants out of the field into something more manageable for our employees. It is also better for the plants harvested as there is less damage to the plants and more soil removed from the root system for better storage. The fall harvest of plants generally begins after the first frost and we hope to be finished by Thanksgiving. With the changing weather patterns, this does not always happen. Many years we have had to harvest through wet, snowy days and this machine has made that easier! Some plants are unable to be harvested with the custom harvester due to the long root systems or the size of the plants. For that, we still use a walk behind harvester which gives everyone quite the work out! Check out the links below to see how each machine works.

After the plants come out of the ground, they are loaded into pallets and taken to our climate controlled storages. November through February is spent sorting plants according to size and bundling them. Wholesale shipments start going out in December Once grading of plants is completed, we begin to work on getting the Retail Bare Root Barn ready for the opening in mid-March. There is not much down time on the farm!