Planting bare-root trees has become all the rage. Why? Because they are easy to handle, lightweight and inexpensive. To see what the fuss was all about, the NJ Tree Foundation purchased 30 bare-root Red oaks from the NJ Forest Nursery. The 5 – 7′ trees easily fit in our truck. We planted the trees in Liberty State Park, Jersey City. Why? Liberty is my litmus test for tree and plant survival. If a tree can survive the horrible “soil”, harsh river wind and lack of drainage, then it will thrive just about anywhere in NJ. 
This demonstration project was interesting. I thought with bare-root trees, the hole would be smaller, but it really isn’t. The tree pit must be wide enough and deep enough to encompass ALL the roots of the tree without circling or crushing them in the hole. The depth of the hole was certainly less than needed with a B&B tree, but the width was more. One really nice thing: all of the soil is used when planting a bare-root tree. When planting B&B trees, there is always a lot of soil that must be carted away.
Our 4-man crew planted 10-12 bare-root trees in an hour. (We could do double that amount in easily-dug soil.) Clean up was a snap: no wire baskets, trunk guards, string or extra soil to clean up. Mulch, water and enjoy!
We will monitor these trees for the next year or so. Not sure if they will need to be staked. I’ll let you know after the first good Nor’ Easter.