Definitely don't bring it inside -- you're doing the right thing.

Bareroot trees are shipped while dormant, so if you can't plant them immediately, you should heel it in to prevent your tree from drying out.

Dig a hole and place your tree there so the roots are on the bottom but the rest of the tree sticks out at an angle.

Cover the roots with soil and make sure the soil is packed and there are no air pockets. It's OK if you end up with a pile of dirt on top of the roots -- it will offer them more protection.

You may place something under/around the tree to prevent damage from the wind or people walking around it (straw, sticks, burlap, etc.)

If you don't want your tree to come out of dormancy too soon, find the coolest part of the yard to heel it in (north side of the house).

Curtesy of Boyd Nursery

Yes, you can scratch it VERY LIGHTLY with a clean blade -- to see if it's green under the bark.

I will not be able to heel it in as the ground is frozen.

I have used a similar method to the one I proposed, for potted rose bushes, by placing a black plastic bag around the rose bush, and keeping it in an unheated garage until spring, and giving occasional water.

I am worried about the fact that there is probably little covering the roots, but I will open the box and see what I have. I never acquired anything on Etsy before.

If you can't work the soil, you can heel in your tree in the unheated shed. Put it in a wheelbarrow or a big bucket filled with sand, fine mulch, sawdust, potting mix etc. Anything to prevent the roots from drying out.

Keep it cold and keep the root covered and protected and it should be fine.

When my former nursery sold bare root trees in early spring (February), they were stored in a large bin of damp sawdust. As long as the roots are covered with a damp medium and not exposed any drying air, they can last that way until they begin to emerge from dormancy....start to bud out. Once that begins to happen, it is best to pot them up if you cannot get them planted in the ground.

gardengal48, so my idea is to put the peach tree roots in a pot, water, leave it in the shed, and either keep the box over the top of the tree, or black plastic to help it maintain dormancy. Does this seem like a good plan?

Light doesn't really have any impact on dormancy....it's really a factor of temperature more than anything else. As long as the shed stays cold - below 40F - the tree will be fine. No need to cover anything except the roots :-)

I also would be very careful about any watering. Since the tree is dormant and not transpiring, it doesn't require any water and overly soggy soil or potting media can create issues. The media should be just barely moist........only damp enough to keep the roots from drying out.

The tree is dormant. You want to keep it that way. You want to keep it just over freezing and keep the mixture covering the roots very slightly moist. Too much moisture and it will get moldy. And you want to keep it out of sunlight. All to keep it alive AND dormant.

I would keep it on the inside wall side of the garage where it's warmer or ask for a return shipping label.

Sunlight is not an issue:-) At this time of year, most of the country is filled with dormant deciduous trees and shrubs living and growing in as much sunlight as is available in whatever location they reside!! If sunlight were a significant factor in encouraging woodies to emerge from dormancy before temperatures and day length were appropriate, we'd all be in big trouble!!

Fluctuations in temperature are a much more serious concern.

I'll post some of the comments from Fedco's directions:

Planting Within 48 Hours

Leave the plastic wrapping around the root ball. Add some water to remoisten the packing material and store your trees and shrubs in a cool shaded place like a shed, barn or cellar. Do not allow roots to stand in water. Avoid heat and sunlight.

.....

You can keep trees and shrubs for a week or two by following one of these temporary measures and continuing to water as needed.

....

Water as needed to keep the roots moist, but don’t let them stand in water. Keep the trees in a cool shaded or dark place like a shed, barn, cellar or garage but don’t allow the plants to freeze. Avoid heat and sunlight.

My comments:

Sunlight is known to create plant growth as does heat. You want to keep the plant dormant. To me freezing is different in different situations. On a tree it can freeze, but you don't want to freeze plants in storage. I've done a little grafting and storage is a big problem if you don't have refrigeration and emergency power. I have the choice of too warm a place or nothing. When I can I just leave my scions on the tree till just before they break dormancy.

Thank you for all your comments. I opened the box tonight. It is definitely very much alive. The root ball is in a 6" wide pot that appears to be filled with friable soil, and perhaps some sphagmum peat moss, it's a bit difficult to tell since the soil is frozen. Looks like a good whip, well packed and shipped. I've gotten worse, and kept them alive.

I put a tiny bit of water in it, although it already felt moist, after all the soil was frozen. I am going to put it back in the box, and back in the shed outdoors, which abuts the outer wall of my office building. It is quite a bit warmer in there than it is out doors, tonight.

I think this is the winning solution.

Purchased on Etsy because the price was reasonable, and I wanted Red Haven and could not find it elsewhere at anything approaching a reasonable price. Shipped from Grower's Solution LLC, Cookeville TN.

I will try to update you with the results of the spring planting, again in the spring. I have in the past planted peach trees as early as the 3rd week of March; as late as late-April.