You Received Your TreeTime.ca Order, Now What?

Unboxing Your TreeTime.ca Order: A Step-by-Step Guide

With any online order, it’s a good idea to double-check your shipment to make sure everything you ordered has arrived—and a TreeTime.ca order is no exception. Our order fulfillment team picks and packs over ten thousand orders every spring. While they are very good at what they do, they are human, and occasional mistakes can happen. 

Once your shipment of dormant seedlings arrives, don’t plant them just yet—take a few minutes to check your order first. Catching any issues early makes it much easier for us to help and lets us verify your order through photos. If anything’s off, we’ll make it right. This step-by-step guide will show you how to confirm your order. 

Part 1: Unboxing

1. Confirm Boxes

Confirm that you have received all of the boxes in your shipment. If you are unsure how many boxes you will receive, check the side of the box. Each box will be labeled with its number out of the total number of boxes.

• Examples:
  • 1 of 1
  • 1 of 2
  • 2 of 2
  • 3 of 6

• While we ship all the boxes in your order at the same time, they are not always delivered on the same day. Most of the time they’ll arrive together, but occasionally one may show up a little later.
  • For orders with multiple boxes, you will be emailed multiple tracking numbers. That way, you can check the status of each box in your shipment.
  • This is also another reason why it’s helpful to check the numbers on the side of each box—it will tell you how many total boxes your order was shipped in.

2. Find the “Invoice Enclosed” Sticker

Find the box with the ‘Invoice Enclosed’ sticker on the outside and open it.

3. Find the White Envelope

• The white envelope will contain the packing slip, receipt, planting guide, and a brochure.
  • Sometimes the envelope shifts during transit and may have slipped down one of the sides of the box.
• Pull out the packing slip.
  • This packing slip will contain general order details such as the billing and shipping addresses, order number, order date, and shipping date.
  • The packing slip also has columns containing the specific details about the plants you ordered (an example packing slip can be found below):
    1. Products: 
       • This will be the species/varieties that you ordered.
    2. Quantity Ordered:
       • The total number of plants for each species/variety.
    3. Packed #:
       • The number of wrapped bundles. These bundles are either wrapped in plastic wrap or bundled using an elastic band.
    4. Packed Plants/Bundle:
       • The number of plants contained in each bundle.
    5. Box #:
       • Indicates which box you will be able to find each species/variety. Sometimes one species may be found in more than one box.
  • Lower Portion:
    • Box Number and Box Size:
      • This will also tell you how many boxes are on your order and specifically which box size. However, this box size will not be relevant to you, but it is helpful for our order fulfillment team and order desk staff. 
    • Packing Date & Time:
      • You’ll also be able to see which of our staff picked and packed your order, along with the date and time it was packed. If the packing date looks a little early, don’t worry; our order fulfillment happens in our cold storage warehouse. So your seedlings have been chilling (literally) in cold storage at -3 to -5°C to keep them dormant.

4. Remove all Packaging from Boxes

5. Confirm your Shipment

• Compare the contents of each box to what is listed on the packing slip.
• Full boxes:
  1. A full box with only one species should have a label on the outside indicating what’s inside. However, labels can sometimes fall off during transit. The packing slip is the most reliable way to verify the contents.
  2. If you have a full box that contains only one species, you can likely leave all bundles inside. Count the total number of bundles in the box, and check a few bundles to confirm they contain the correct number of trees.
• Mixed boxes:
  1. If the box contains a mix of different species and varieties, it is best to remove all bundles from the box to confirm. 
  2. In a mixed box, each bundle will be labeled with the plant species, making it easier to confirm that you received the correct plants in the right quantities. The label will be a sticker on the plastic wrap or attached to a rubber band around the bundle.
  3. Review the packing slip line by line to confirm you received the correct number of bundles for each species/variety and that each bundle contains the correct number of plants.
     • Keep in mind that one bundle doesn’t mean one plant—a single bundle contains multiple seedlings. The number of seedlings per bundle varies by species and variety, so be sure to check your packing slip for the amount in each bundle.
• It is important to note that we sell different stock types.
  1. Peat Plugs:
     1. Most of our seedlings are sold as peat plugs, meaning the seedling is grown in a cylinder of soil that contains all its roots. These bundles will be wrapped in plastic.
  2. Bareroot:
     1. Some of our seedlings are sold as bareroot, meaning they were grown and then harvested from bareroot fields. These plants will have little to no soil around the roots. They are bundled with either plastic wrap or an elastic band. While this can be shocking, it is not a cause for concern. They are dormant, so they can handle being harvested, stored, and shipped this way.

6. If there are any issues, contact us.

1. Seedling health/damage
   • It’s always a good idea to inspect your seedlings for any health issues or damage from transit. Don’t be concerned if your seedlings have no leaves—they are shipped dormant, which means they are still in winter mode.
     • Mold: Often in shipping, a tree can grow some surface mold. It is unsightly but is typically harmless to the tree and is often killed off with exposure to sunlight and soil. As we are sending them in a cool, dark box, it’s pretty much unavoidable. 
     • Moisture: Your seedlings should be moist upon their arrival, especially those that have soil around the roots (plugs). If you notice that your seedlings are very dry, please reach out and let us know.
   • Take photos and contact us.
     • If you spot anything concerning, take clear photos to document the issue. 
     • Email us at [email protected] with a brief description of the issue, the affected species, and attach the photos. You can also call us at 1-844-873-3700 with any questions or concerns.
   • If in doubt – Plant It!
     • If the plant seems dead, there’s no harm in planting it. Plants are resilient and often surprise us.

2. Incorrect number of plants
   • After comparing your shipment to the packing slip, if you notice any discrepancies, take photos and reach out before you start planting. Once they are planted, it becomes a lot harder to verify your order. 
   • Take clear photos:
     • The photos should show everything you received in your order. They don’t all have to fit in one photo—multiple photos are helpful. It also helps if the labels on the bundles/boxes are visible so we can identify which plants are which.
     • If your order was shipped in multiple boxes, it’s helpful to group the contents of each box together when taking photos. This helps us to compare your photos to the packing slip.
   • Email us:
     • Send us an email to [email protected] and include:
       1. The species/variety that is affected
       2. A brief description of the issue
          1. Is it an issue with the number of bundles or the number of plants in each bundle?
       3. Attach the photos
     • You can also give us a call at 1-844-873-3700

To see this step-by-step guide in action, click here!

Part 2: Unbundling

Once you’ve confirmed that all your plants have arrived, you’re ready to start planting. We recommend planting your seedlings within 2 weeks of the shipping date. But before you begin, the seedlings need to be unbundled and separated. This can be done right at the planting site to help you keep track of which plant is which. Unbundling them on-site also helps prevent them from drying out.

If you’re planting a large number of seedlings, it’s a good idea to store them out of direct sunlight until you’re ready to plant. Keep them indoors or in the shade if possible—this helps keep the roots moist and reduces the risk of them drying out.

1. Grab a bundle

2. Unbundle
   • Unwrap the plastic wrap from the bundle or remove the plastic band.
   • Some trees will not be bundled as they are sold as individual plants. This is mostly our fruit trees, such as apples, pears, and plums.

3. Gently separate seedlings
   • Plugs: You should be able to see the line of separation between the peat plugs. If not, gently squeeze the bundle—they should come apart easily.
     • If you try and it only looks like 1 root ball, take a photo and contact us.
   • Bareroot: Seedlings may be bundled with elastic, twine, or plastic. Gently remove the material and separate the plants—they should come apart easily.
     • If roots are tangled together, separating them under water can make it easier
     • If you are having a hard time separating seedlings and it only looks like 1 root ball, take photos and contact us.

4. As you unbundle, take note of how many seedlings are in each bundle
   • Ideally, you should have checked the bundle amount when you unboxed your order. But it is always a good idea to do a double-check when unbundling.
   • If there are any discrepancies in the bundle amount, take photos and contact us.
   • Inspect plants for damage/health. (See notes above, in Step 6 of unboxing.)

5. Plant Them!
   • Now it’s time to plant your seedlings! If you need more information on proper planting techniques, refer to the planting guide included in the white envelope in your shipment.
   • Or you can read our blog post: Seedling Planting: The Best Guide for Amazing Trees

It is important to verify you received everything you ordered no matter what the type of order or supplier. We want to set you up for success when you order from us so we created this Unboxing Your TreeTime.ca Order: A Step-by-Step Guide, because we care.

Visit TreeTime.ca for all your tree and shrub seedling needs!

Happy Planting!