Typically, when I run around gathering sprouts, there are sprouts that I want to keep (to plant on my claim) and sprouts that I want to plant right then and there.
The only thing you can choose when planting, though, is the type of tree you wish to plant. And since all sprouts look exactly alike, you have to do an enormous amount of inventory management to accomplish that.
I'd like to make a two suggestions that I feel would help foresters a lot:
1) Give sprouts different icons so you can tell them apart at a glance, making it easier to organize.
2) Allow you to select a specific sprout you wish to plant. This would be by right-clicking on the sprout (it always has a menu with the 'Drop' option) or it could be similar to how taming a wild animal works, where a window pops up, allowing you to choose the exact food you wish to give it.