I’m not going to be able to plant my new bare root trees for a couple of Days. I want to heel them in to protect the roots. I’m putting together a 5:1:1 potting mix for some rootstocks so would it be acceptable to fill my wheel barrow with the potting mix and heel the trees into it in my cellar instead of digging an outside trench?
Done that. Trees stayed in the garage for quite some time. No issues. Just make sure the mix doesn’t dry out.
Also instead of mix, you could use a fine mulch out something like that… no need to make the 5-1-1 just for temp storage.
Thanks but would not be for temp storage. I plan to pot the rootstocks in the mix once I bench graft them.
Yes,that plan should work. Brady
Thanks guys, You answered questions I had posted in another topic.
I just heeled my trees in my wheel barrow with a 5:1:1 mix. Seemed to work well. Took a picture but didn’t realize how crappy it turned out till now.
Any idea how moist this soil shold be? The pine bark fines were very wet from sitting outside so it’s moist but not saturated. Should I add water?
If it’s not bone dry you should be fine. It needs to be moist but not soggy. The roots can find water even in soil that appears dry to us.
I don’t heal in anything unless it’s going to be over three weeks before I can plant. I just put boxes in the shade and cover them with a tarp and they are fine for a very long time. They always sit in the box for at least a week.
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Although the paper that comes with the box says to plant the trees ASAP, if I cannot, I make sure the roots are moist, put the trees back in its original packaging, back in the box, close the box, seal it. I put the box in my unheated basement with no light. Last year, I kept it like that for a month. No issue.
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Guess I’ll keep that in mind next year 
I’ve already heeled them in. It’s all good though as it gave me the opportunity to inspect everything now. Would hate to find out a month later that there was a problem with one of my trees and it was too late to replace it.
I did check the trees (all peaches) before I put them back.
I do this when I order from nurseries from the south. Their last shipping date is around early March. It is way too cold for me to dig frozen ground in March, I know some of you do. I am happy to wait for thawing.