What is an evergreen seedling plug?
Germinated from seed in “plugs” of peat moss and other highly beneficial organic material for one to two years, evergreen seedling plugs are often transplanted by wholesalers for field growing because they are technically not dug up like “bare root” trees. Rather, they are shipped with an intact cigar-shaped “plug” of dirt into which the roots have grown. Since their roots are already established in that plug of dirt, they can begin putting out new root growth and new top growth fairly quickly. Plug seedlings experience much less stress during transplanting as bareroot trees often do, and can be planted at almost any time of year. Bareroot seedlings, on the other hand, are shipped with no dirt, so they must get their roots reestablished in the new soil before they can begin putting on any significant new growth.
