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daemon2525

Mail order nurseries

daemon2525
12 years ago

I know that this has been beat to death but I cannot believe how bad some of the Mail order nurseries are.

I am trying to start a small orchard and am looking on the internet for hours at a time. It seems that the quality of mail order stuff can be a problem. I am not going to start with any names because it seems that you folks already know, but I e-mailed a couple of places and was disappointed.

I found a site that had exactly what I wanted but they did not even say what kind of rootstock that any of their trees were.

So I e-mailed and asked!! I asked about rootstock and availability etc, and got an e-mail back that said "We use M1-11". Thats all it said....

So I replied to the message and asked if they still ship this fall, if they had any of several varities, if they really had only one rootstock for every variety that they sell, and if they really meant M111 intead of M1-11. I got an email back that said "yes". That's it!! one word... LOL!

Well I guess that technically they answered my questions assuming that all three questions could be answered with a yes.

I was kinda waiting on "Thank you for inquiring about our trees. We have the varieties that you are looking for and we do ship from xxx to xxx . Our trees are this and that and would be glad to help you. , etc, etc..

I got "yes"

So I do have a couple of options. There is one and only one mail order nursery on my list that I trust. So far.

My second option is the local nursery that does not specialize in fruit tree but did have a few.

They have beautiful trees but they only had 6 trees (2 each of 3 different kinds), and I have already bought 2 of them. So now they only have 4 trees. If they did not sell any. (this place sells hardwood trees, pines,etc, 1000's of them) They are great if anyone needs to know about them.


Sorry about not really asking a question in this post, but I just needed to rant.

If anyone can tell me about a really "SOLID" nursery that I will not be disappointed in that would be OK.

I am only looking for another 3 or 4 trees, but I would like them to be pretty big trees that might get fruit off of before I die.

thanks

Larry

Comments (11)

  • armyofda12mnkeys
    12 years ago

    I won't put any negative ones ... Here are the positives:
    I have been pleased with RollingRiver and RainTree. I'll email RollingRiver and get a response back within a few days (I do realize a nursery must be busy). RainTree has nice variety.
    and think Ive gotten a couple items from OneGreenWorld, BurntRidge.
    People have recommended England's Orchard & Nursery to me as well.
    -Arian

  • Kevin Reilly
    12 years ago

    There is another garden site that has nursery reviews by customers called garden watchdog ....check it out (can't put web name here in GW it will block it)

  • alan haigh
    12 years ago

    For large trees stick to your source and graft on the varieties you want if you like them so much. Just hope they're selling you as much root as top.

    I don't fault a nursery for selling only one root stock. Small nurseries have to come up with a business model that works for them and you choose the model that suits you.

  • franktank232
    12 years ago

    I'm with Harvest. They can't carry everything. Even the big guys can have a limited to supply of certain things. I notice ACN sells out of a lot of trees even this early.

    You can look at:
    Raintree
    BurntRidge
    St Lawrence Nurseries
    Cummins
    ACN
    Jungs
    Millers
    Starks Bros

  • bob_z6
    12 years ago

    I'll second RollingRiver- it's the place I check first. Though I don't think they have a variety of rootstocks. For that, Cummins is hard to beat. I had mixed results with Raintree (good berry bushes with huge root systems, but a couple of the apple trees didn't leaf out), but they were good about a replacement/credit and I'll be trying them again.

  • kansasapple
    12 years ago

    Check out the trees that Big Horse Creek Farm has currently - 4 rootstock choices and 350+ varieties. Great folks - I've ordered from them since 1999. If you can't find what you're looking for give me a shout, I do custom bench grafting every spring.

    Here is a link that might be useful: blog article

  • daemon2525
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I was not faulting them for only one rootstock. I just needed to know what rootsotck they used and thought that their communication was kinda rude.

    It turns out that I want a more dwarfing root than the M111 anyway.

    Yes, I'll have to see how the trees that I bought turn out.
    They sure are pretty. They are about 5-6 ft tall, but they are in pretty big containers, called "rootmaker/roottrapper" bags.

    Thanks for all of the suggestions. I will buy some from my local but I want a Cortland and they do not have one.

  • abz5b
    12 years ago

    Have had really good luck with my trees from Starkbros as well as some berries. Have had good luck with Raintree as well. The Cherry tree I purchased from Starkbros grew almost 5 feet the first year. Significantly better than our local nurseries.

  • Sally "Cricket" Benfer
    12 years ago

    AB which cherry did u purchase?

  • mrsg47
    12 years ago

    I went to our local very fancy nursery to check out their trees last summer, bought an Elberta Peach. It looked just fine at the nursery, got it home and planted it immediately. Within a week it was riddled with borers. It survived but I think for a while it was living a toxic waste dump of chemicals, to kill all the insects. It came with more pests than you can imagine, that were not visible to the naked eye at time of purchase. Also the tree was marked with a tag that said 'semi-dwarf' (as are all my trees) but no name of rootstock. I stick with Raintree. They have never let me down. They always confirm their rootstock and they have a great variety for a small orchard or large. They will replace trees if they are one year old or younger. Basically a one year guarantee. My orchard is small only fifteen trees but every Raintree tree has grown beautifully and fast. Good luck, Mrs. G

  • jkring
    12 years ago

    I've had great luck with Maple Valley Orchards and Nursery. They are a small mom and pop nursery but have hundreds of varieties of heirloom apples. It looks like they only use B9 and M26. I've ordered scionwood, rootstocks, bareroot apple trees and supplies from them for years. It's best to call and make sure they have what you want. Remember, they are a mom and pop shop :).

    Here is a link that might be useful: Maple Valley Orchards apple trees