bare root strawberry plants

[salome2001]

I have never bought bare root plants before....

They were a special offer from a seed supplier, 12 plants free for £4.90 postage. Sent on Oct 26th, not delivered until Oct 29th (Saturday) and we missed the postie by 10 minutes so he took them back to the delivery office where they languished all weekend til I could pick them up on Monday. When I opened the box it looked like a mess of dead leaves and dirt.
Rang the company and they said they should be fine... I gave the roots some water and then planted them all out in compost in 9cm pots today and there is green on most of the plants... as well as a lot of brown crinkled foliage
So.. my questions is really: is this a normal presentation for bare root plants, or has the premium treatment they got from Royal Mail battered them... and what are their chances of recovery???
(the 9cm pots are temporary... had some issues with vine weevils and need to get my nematodes before planting in my terracotta pots again... these guys don't look like they'd last 2 minutes against vine weevils in this state...)

[delsupserve]

Morning salome2001, I have bought bare rooted strawberries of various suppliers on e-bay and they arrived just wrapped in damp newspaper. In my limited experiance they are as tough as old boots. So long as the crown has some colour and you dont bury the crown you should be O.K. I got attacked last year from the dreaded vine weavel and lost seven 2nd year plants. Nematodes wont work this time of year, i think the next window for nematodes is the spring. No doubt people with more knowledge than me will put you right if ive given you duff info. Regards Mick.

[Two_Sheds]

As Mick says, plus don't give them too big a pot to start with. Start small, work upwards as the plants get bigger next year, and don't bury the crowns

[Alison]

I normally give any barerooted ones a good soak for an hour or so in water then put them in 3" pots to grow on for a while. When the roots have established you can pot on / out. They always do look rubbish when you get them but improve quite quickly and are very hardy, never lost on yet.

[salome2001]

thanks all. Just 24 hours after getting some compost on their roots they are all (bar two) shooting up new leaves, so hopefully I was just worrying about nothing!! still waiting for the nemasys though (Marshalls reckons it can be used to soil temp 5C and it's still above that now, especially in the conservatory where these babies are going to be for the next little while, keeping the chillis company..)

[Alison]

You don't need to keep the strawberries warm, so long as they're hardened off (not shocked into the cold) they'll be healthier outdoors, mine have never been in and I had a load of runners in 3" pots under snow for about a month last year and they harvested beautifully in June.