Note: That Jersey blueberry is guaranteed to grow. Doesn't claim it will fruit. ;-)

lol, true

I think they use generic pictures for their tags. Here in CA I see HD and Lowes sell 3-4 each of black/rasp. The cultivars are labelled different but they all have the same generic picture. Those Mysore look good. I have a Munger I planted last year. Looking forward to trying it this summer.

Well, question for you folks as we are discussing berries from box stores. I live in Riverside county and I saw few varities of bare root at HD for $5/ea. Not sure what to look for in terms of varities to grow here.

Any insights?

I'm annoyed because our local Home Depot carries Bing and three other cherries, none of which will fruit here, as well as Elberta peach which will give nothing; however the only apples they carry are low-chill, including the miserable Ein Shemer. But what's especially annoying is that there are plenty of outstanding low-chill stonefruit and yes, cherries that fruit splendidly here as well, but you'll never know it unless you visit a retail nursery. People are shocked when they see our nectarine tree loaded with fruit, as most of them bought theirs at a big-box store and nevery got a single fruit.

I see the same thing here Applenut. I did notice this year though that the Home Depot closest to me actually put a sign in front of the cherry trees warning of their 600+ hour chill requirement. Im sure the sign was put there by the chairman of the local CRFG who works there. Nice guy and im glad he did it. Ive always been bothered by the high chill trees they bring in and feel like they were being misleading to their customers.

As long as the price reflect in the hit and miss,..it usually does and people come back for more.

I ones bought a couple of black currants at Wallmart and last year I brought the largest berries to our fruit show.

Is Mysore really dear resistant? I assumed deer like all raspberries.

Murky,

I have, well had a real deer problem here until I recently fenced the property. I have had the deer nibble them just after the original planting and after that left them alone almost 100%. Not sure if it is the taste, thorns or just the fact they grow so fast it isn't noticeable.

I wonder if the deer resistance holds for all black raspberries. I can't imagine the thorns are an issue because the deer love to eat the Himilayan blackberries around here and their thorns are really nasty.

We have wild black raspberries, and I guess they survive the wildlife well enough that I am able to taste them, so maybe I can plant some unprotected black caps.

Unlike the wild strawberries, the wild black raspberries at my house taste far inferior to cultivated varieties I've tried. They are bland and watery. Not worth eating at all.

There are a lot of deer around here and a lot of wild raspberries. The deer must not be overly fond of them, because they mow off anything else, it seems. I have watched them out our window eating the buckthorn, an invasive plant they are very fond of, which has a large spine at the end of each twig. They would get a branch of it in their mouth, then slide their mouth sideways along the branch, leaving the stem with thorn at the end. The deer aren't dumb in figuring out how to eat it. The thorns on red raspberries are much softer than the wicked spines on the black raspberries, so I wouldn't think they would be much of a deterrent to the deer, but maybe they just don't like the flavor. Northwoodswis

It's not just the big box stores! Until last year, nary a one of the peach trees available was likely to fruit here--maybe in Dallas. Same with many of the other fruits.

I too get so annoyed by what big box stores sell. If you�re not an experience gardener, you have no idea about winter chill hours or soil types and will of course buy plants that are not suited for you climate. Then you try growing these plants just to be disappointed and assume you don't have a green thumb and will just give up on gardening. Big Box stores are just hurting the average customer by giving them low self-esteem and is one of the reasons why so many yards around America are not all that great looking. I live in Orange County, but I work in San Francisco 2 days a week and I notice that Home Depot in Southern California sell high chilled plants that won't do good here and that the Home Depots in San Francisco sell even higher chill plants that won't do good there. I'm always still amazed to find high chilled apples, Bing Cherries, Lilacs for zones 7-8 or less, and Peonies at Home Depot, Lowe's, and Walmart in California. It's just sad :(

the Big Box means one box size fits all. I worked for a Big Box store years ago, and the clerks are so overworked and bullied that they are afraid of their own shadow, as a rule. Lowes is marginally better to their help, but if you really want to get a plant with proper ID, buy from a local nurseryman. They work with your climate and have the passion and experience to tell you what you need to know.

It sux. I love HD and Lowes but I too see many high chill varieties. Sadly the workers are clueless.

By the time the poor uninformed "gardener" gets the plant to grow and by the time it DOES NOT fruit many moons will have gone by and therefore HD and Lowes make out such as bandits in the night!

I always ask for a manager and show them that most of the fruit trees will not fruit in this area and I ask them who buys these trees. They never have a good answer.

I advise the wanna be gardener to educate themselves online first and then buy with confidence!

When I lived in Southern California, the big box stores were *dreadful* on their selection. It's truly a shame considering the amazing variety of fruiting trees that will grow there. Here, they are decent and this year the selection is actually quite good even if they are selling cabbage *and* tomato plants at the same time.

On general principle I never trust the tags on plants, but the worst I ever saw was this winter when I was looking for a foundation shrub/tree that would get 8-12' tall. My BF was fascinated by the Austrian Pines, which are really great looking tree. The tag said it got to 8'. Fortunately, a quick Google search on my phone convinced him they get to 60'!

What you are seeing is the effect of giant purchasing departments...

They buy hundreds of thousands of plants of each variety... They cost nothing per unit... They ship them all over the entire USA... There may be some variation on what they sell by region - but it doesn't seem like it's a whole lot.

For example - I always chuckle when I see Tall Fescue or apple trees that require some dormancy period for sale in South Florida box stores... No - they won't grow down there... Sorry. If you ask the people in the garden centers - for the most part they know which stuff is doomed and will try to steer you away from it... It's pretty sad that they don't have any control over what they sell in those cases - or they could provide customers with a better chance at success...

For the most part - the varieties they sell around here aren't particularly good - but will at least produce fruit if the owner takes care of the proper maintenance.... Which you can't do if you want to buy the stuff at the box stores... Ironically, those Box stores don't sell any of the proper sprays, fungicides, or fertilizers....

Thanks

I live in SoCal also. I go to Local nurseries that carry Dave Wilson nursery and have the proper fruit for my area. Years ago I bought trees at big box stores before I knew better. Except for 2 citrus I had to take them out. Mostly they were higher chill trees hat did not work. The local nurseries can give help and suggestions . Most of the time at big box I can't get any helpful information.

Interestingly in my area (San Diego county, California), my local Lowe's and Home Depot stock all blueberry varieties that are appropriate to our area. The two I remember off hand were Sunshine and Emerald. And I think Misty. Can't say what they had for grapes or raspberries/blackberries. But at least they had the blueberries right. I've spoken to the buyers and they try to purchase their fruit trees, bushes and vines from local sources here. They are surprisingly up to speed. A pleasant surprise. But, all that said, I have bought all my fruit trees and bushes from my private garden centers or commercial growers that are kind enough to sell to retail customers. With the exception of what I can't find locally, then buy online. I have found that the prices are not that different, and my garden centers guarantee their stock, plus stock exactly what I'm looking for. I am very fortunate to have two garden centers that stock very large quantities and varieties of stone/pome fruit and citrus.

Patty S.

I have just the opposite problem. I wan to push the chill hours estimate as far as I can and the box stores and nurseries do not have what I want so I mail order my fruit trees.

The chill hour rating is often a guess and varies widely.

I think some people yank a fruit tree out before it has matured enough for fruit. I read somewhere the average home fruit tree planter will pull the tree out at four years thinking they have a bad tree when fruit trees can take up to five years to fruit.

This year I got lucky at HD in Stanton. It seems they had quite a bit of good bare root trees from Pacific Groves and most of them were good for the area. I bought an awesome 3 in 1 plum that is over 6' after pruning. The tree has a semi low chill Santa Rosa and Satsuma but also had a high 800 hour chill Italian Prune. I cant understand why such a variance in chill hours. Either way all I really wanted were the two Japanese plums. The tree was marked down %50 to less than $12!! They had so many other trees. Tons of ultra dwarf peaches for half off, $8!!

Some good things can be found at the big box stores but buyer beware. The Clementine mandarin I bought this year is now starting to form brown rot (I think). I pulled off all the bad leaves but the tree was blooming heavy and now the pea sized small fruit is pocked with black dots and indents. I sprayed today with a fungicide but the point is is that it came from HD with a few problems.

Every time I buy a tree from big box I always check it before introducing it to the garden.

I bought some blueberries from Lowes, later making a complaint to the corp headquarters over the labelling (what I thought was the variety so I would know what to pollinate with was just the Spanish word for "blueberry plant". I did get their admission the label is a problem, and the local store made direct contact with supplier, who could only narrow it to a list of 5 rabbiteyes.
What I did learn it is the supplier nursery who does the label, not Lowes Corp. Lowes did say they would get the supplier to properly label with an actual variety.

Our Home Depot has a nice supply of good looking Chippewa and Northland blueberry plants on triple stacked racks. The third level is barely reachable. Last night I was at the store about dusk, and I saw an employee bringing in the berries to avoid last nights hard freeze. I looked up and noticed that the top rack of plants barely fit through the door, and the tops of all the top plants were getting bent over and dragged against the door header to get them inside. Nice! So avoid any plants on the top...they've been through the mill.