Container grown plants are most often found in local nurseries. In general they are more expensive than bareroot plants. Often they cost double or triple in order to cover the cost of soil from shipping and the labor to tend them, potentially for months.
A properly tended container grown tree that hasn’t become root bound has a better chance for success than a bareroot plant. However a poorly tended container grown tree, that has been root bound or water logged is less likely to survive compared to its bareroot counterpart. When buying container grown plants it is best to shop around. In general nursery and greenhouse suppliers will have the best stocks as their name is on the line with local businesses and potential repeat customers. The pop-up nursery in the corner of the grocery store parking lot is less likely to have quality plants.
If you are a cunning and patient shopper you can shave a little off the edges on the high price of a container grown plant. You see most of these trees are grown off site and shipped along with their heavy soil to the retailer that ordered them. As the season goes on, these trees get harder and hard to sell. Rather than incur additional cost by shipping them back to the grower, who likely won’t accept healthy returns, they will choose to offer the plants at clearance prices.
The longer you wait to buy the lower the price will be. However as time passes you will see less selection and less healthy plants. Sure the last of them might be selling for 50% off in late June. Most of these plants are root bound, beat up, water logged, or in some other way unhealthy. In my personal experience the time to strike is in the same week that the retailer drops their prices by 25%. This is around the time in late spring or early summer where you can still save a couple of bucks on healthy plants, before the selection is picked clean.
When looking for a quality container grown plant you want to look for a couple of key things. When at all possible you should start by shopping reputable dealers, selling certified plants. If these plants have been virus indexed, then it is all the better.
While it is okay to see some roots in the drain holes, it is a bad sign if those roots are escaping the container. This usually means that the plant is root bound and will struggle to establish itself in your soil. The leaves should be bright green. You should avoid any trees that have yellow leaves as this is usually a sign of being water logged or otherwise improperly tended.
Before buying the plant make sure to look under the leaves and at the base of stems for any potential egg clusters. Since these trees were most likely grown offsite they could carry exotic and common pests that could wreak havoc through the rest of your orchard.
Planting a container grown plant is similar to planting a bareroot one, except the soil from the container will serve the same purpose as the mound does when preparing the hole. Removing the plant from the container is probably the trickiest part. Once the container is gone the soil structure could crumble. Before you even consider removing the container you should set the pot in the hole and check to make sure the crown is 3 to 4 inches above ground level.
Once you are sure you have the depth correct, you can then remove the plant from the pot by gently squeezing the sides to loosen the dirt a little.
While some people might advocate turning the pot upside down or using your feet to hold the pot while you firmly pull up on the trunk, over the years I have developed my own method.
Most container grown plants come in cheap plastic pots. I prefer to use a sharp box cutter on a shallow setting to slash down each side. I tip the pot over slowly and lay the pot its side. Then I slowly shimmy it free at the edge of the hole.
Once the plant is in the hole you should carefully pick out any loose roots and help them to sprawl out into the wider part of the hole. If a root does not come free from the ball easily, it is better to leave it than to risk disturbing its relationship to the other roots.