Thanks for not getting all bent out of shape Alan. When I said I respect your opinion I meant it 100%. When poked at I can poke back without getting nasty. Glad to see you can take as good as you give and still be friendly afterwards. Sorry if I over did it a little.

If I could afford to buy and have commercial orchard sized trees sent to me I would. I have no doubt you are very good at what you do. I also totally agree with you when it comes to well handled bare root trees. Every one I have ever planted has been bullet proof.

To me when someone says they received healthy trees that all died I have a lot of questions. Sure a healthy tree can die once in awhile but I have never lost a single healthy BR tree. You see I don't think a healthy BR tree is fragile if cared for. Either the tree was not healthy from the start or the buyer did not do their part. If the buyer does not do their part they will end up with a lot of dead trees. Im not saying its hard to keep them alive or that they are fragile. Im just saying there is more to it than buying a BR tree and sticking it somewhere hoping it will grow.

When a tree arrives I always check..

I try to plant trees long enough before summer so they have time to get established before it gets too hot.

I have picked a place with enough full sun.

I have everything ready to go and prepare the soil before the trees are taken out of their box.

I check for damage during transit.

I check to see if the branches are supple.

Check the roots for breaks and splits and for nematodes. I trim the roots back to a break or split and toss the tree if it has nematodes.

I take note of the size of the root system. Is it adequate for the size of the tree?

I check the graft union to see if it has taken well and check for any signs of disease.

I look for broken or damaged branches and prune them or gently bind them as I see appropriate.

I take note if the tree has leafed out or leafed out and lost its leaves.

I plant them at the proper depth and water them in.

I dont let the roots dry out during the first 2-3 weeks.

Its not rocket science nor is it hard. Its just how its done and it works and the trees live. To me this is all reasonable care and kind of second nature. Most of it I do without even thinking about it. I spend way more time researching what trees Im going to buy than all the other things listed above.
If a tree is diseased or has a problem I know it in most cases before planting. If a tree is healthy I will not kill it. Im sure its the same way with you but not everyone does their job and when they dont bad things happen and trees die.
Thats why I have so many questions when someone says they received healthy trees and they all died. The trees are not really that fragile so my thinking is they missed something or had no plan or a bad plan or poor follow through. Some people cant take constructive criticism and get verbally combative when you try to explain. Were the trees healthy or not? If not then you should know it and say they were not healthy when you inspected them before planting. Ten healthy trees dont just die and then ten more. Not if you do your part because a healthy bare root tree is not that hard to keep alive.

It really doesnt take that much time to visually inspect each tree and go through all of the things mentioned either when you are used to doing it.

I realize you probably do all those things as well as spray for diseases and for sure do not need my instruction. Im just agreeing with you in a round about way that I hope will be helpful to some new grower reading this.

Update....

Still no reply from Burnt Ridge. When I posted a negative review for them at the Garden Watchdog they said they would send an email to Burnt Ridge. I kinda hoped that would get an email reply from them but so far nada.

Yesterday afternoon I received an email and tracking number from Willis Orchard. Thats three days from order to ship date. Right in line with Peaceful Valley my next favorite online nursery.

berry-nut I would love to see pictures of your order when it arrives. I wish I had room for that many trees. When my next order arrives I will have roughly 80 trees total which is a few to many. I need to thin out my fig tree collection later this year for sure.

Update....

I received an email from Burnt Ridge today. It was very civil and courteous and sign by one Michael Dolan. He did check out this thread and looked at the pictures. He feels there is nothing BR has to apologize for and no refund or credit will be given. He said what I think is fungus on the Lapins may be paint.
I am not fond of any of these trees. However the trees are still under warranty so I have decided to try and keep them all alive in smaller pots.

Not real happy about it and not likely to change the negative rating any time soon. However if the trees all thrive I may one day change the negative to a neutral. I can't ever see changing the rating to a positive as 1/4" caliper and trees previously topped to 30" without mention in the descriptions to me is way out of line. This being an acceptable business practice to them speaks volumes to me and as Forrest Gump says: "And I don't have anymore to say about that."

I don't have anything to add to this posting, except - I couldn't get into Bay Laurel Nurseries website to view the things I was looking for. I don't think I could squeeze another tree in my backyard anyway, but the Chardonnay grapes they sent me last year are doing so well, that I hoped to order more.

With all the great things that have been said, perhaps they were just too swamped - so the website couldn't be accessed.

Did anyone else have a problem with it?

Bejay

bejay 9 10 I don't think Bay Laurel is a bad company. I would order from them again if they had something I could not find somewhere else.

Earlier in the year I could not access their site to place an order. At that time there was a page that came up that said they had exceeded their server traffic capacity and that they should call the administrator or some such thing.

It seams to be working for me. Give the link below a try.

TIM this really is your personal blog! Is there some quicker way to scroll to the bottom? I've long wondered what the trick is to do that.

Just wanted to chip in that your rule about planting early is truly a golden one here in southeast NY. As soon as the ground can be worked and true winter weather is over is the best time to stick plants in if you didn't the previous fall. Here that's often the last week of March or so. A tree planted a month later will get less than half the growth.

Harvestman-
For once, I get to give you advice! 'Ctrl' 'End' will take you to the bottom.
-Glenn

Hi harvestman absolutely right about early planting. The trees I planted back in January already have 6"-12" of new growth. There is no way the dormant trees I will be planting next week will catch up this season.

The fastest way to reach the bottom is to....

Right click on the scroll on the far right and release it fast.

A drop down menu will appear and you can left click on "Bottom" and tada just like magic you are at the bottom.

If anybody manages to scroll down this far heres my order experience this year.

Arboreum.biz - This is a small project of two guys I think and you need to mail in a check for your order, but they have some truly unique stone fruits. I got good answers to my emails and the trees came on time and in excellent condition. HIghly recommended for unusual stone fruits.

Raintree - I have ordered at least a dozen times from Raintree. This year I got a couple trees that were in very good shape and they threw in a nice black currant as a bonus which I was happy about because one of my black currants died last year.

Henry Fields - I only order from them if they are the only source. I decided to try their Flat Wonderful peach so placed an order through them. The tree is a bit small compared to other orders but it looked healthy. So it looks like I will have a positive experience from them this year.

Cummins - trees just came. The peaches have huge roots and look the healthiest of any of the orders in terms of how "fresh" they looked. But they sent me one incorrect tree. I emailed them and they apologized and promise to fix it. This is the only problem I have ever had from Cummins, mixed up orders, and they always make them right. They told me if they have my missing tree they will send it and I can keep the extra one for free, so I can't really complain about that. My favorite nursery in spite of the occasional disorder.

Scott

Scott, what was the diameter of your Cummins peaches? I'm still trying to find out if they sell the runts to their wholesale customers.

Thanks for advice on scrolling down. I was able to follow the directions of Ctrl and End. Couldn't find the locations to follow TIM's advise- I'm a tech moron.

Here are some of my various orders of the shipping season:

burnt ridge order #1: wolf river apple, liberty apple, enterprise apple, aronia seedlings 4x, williams pride apple

burnt ridge order #2: nikita's gift persimmon, ruby autumn olive, elderberries: adams, black beauty, blue x2, john, korso, nova, thundercloud, variagated, york. chestnuts: connecticut early x2, yoo ma. strawberry tree seedling, sochi tea, Italian Honey Fig, Striped tiger fig, Triple crown blackberry.

willis order #1: 2x brazos blackberries, 2x austin dewberries, 2x black beauty mulberry, 1x methley plum, 1x conadroia fig.

Willis #2 order: blanc du bois grape, big red mayhaw x3, white pomegranate, vista white loquat, persian mulberry, honeycrisp apple, sierra beauty apple

Edible landscaping: Pawpaw 5-gal, Anastasia Wyeberry

My impressions:
Burnt Ridge: I've had generally good luck with this company over the past few years. Compared to some places, they do (IMO) give more roots in their bare-root plants. Some companies ship trees that look like dinky twigs and you can't even tell where the root is, or if there is any root left.

In this last order, they did send an obviously dead Yoo Ma chestnut, and they forgot to send my second connecticut early chestnut. When I e-mailed them, they responded within 48 hours and told me that they didn't have any yoo ma chestnuts left but sent out two more connecticut early chestnuts.

In one other case last year, I ordered a 'mango' pawpaw from burnt ridge, and it was suspected DOA. 4" of the 6" graft had been broken during shipment, but not even the rootstock seemed alive. The graft also didn't even seem like it ever fully took to the rootstock. I just planted it in the ground, hoping it would come out, but it never did and just rotted. Unfortunately, I didn't contact the nursery to see about getting a replacement, and if their paw paw trees are only 6-8", I really don't think they're worth the price even if they were healthy.

I've also had a few things that died which were my fault, like planting in an area that was too low, even planting stuff that may have been for the PNW vs the southeast.

-

Willis. I hear a lot of bad stuff about Willis, and generally, I wouldn't buy large, more expensive trees from them, but where else can you buy 2-3' fruit trees for like $6-$7? Many nurseries only sell one size, and there isn't much choice in size. In many cases, I've placed an order one day and received the package within 24-48 hours. I've ordered from them several times throughout the last two or three years.

One disturbing trend I'm seeing with loquats is that the seedlings are being sold as a specific cultivar, despite many sources claiming that loquats don't come true to seed. I ordered a Vista White from Willis, and it was obviously a seedling, not layered, rooted, or grafted. So, I may have gotten ripped off on that Vista White. There's another nursery in California that is selling these seedlings for premium prices as well. I e-mailed that nursery about it, and they claimed that loquats DO in fact come true to seed. This does sound pretty fishy to me though.

Edible Landscaping.. I've only ordered once from them, a 5 gallon paw paw and a small anastasia wyeberry. Before ordering from them, I e-mailed the nursery to ask several questions and was kind of concerned with their one-word answers to my questions, but where else are you going to find container grown paw paws? Even Nolan River Nursery says their pawpaws are bare root. Anyway, the paw paw came shipped with a large canker on it. Not sure if this is something that's going to hurt it in the long run or if it's anything to be concerned about at all.

Xentar, you can get container pawpaws from several places, I think Burnt Ridge, Raintree, and perhaps One Green World all sell container pawpaws.

Hman, I got two peaches from Cummins; one was a little too big I would say, over 1"; the tree must have been 10' tall as well based on how thick it is where they topped it at 5'. The other one I would call average, not sure the exact measurement but I would guess about 3/4" based on my memory. I also got two apples from them and one was maybe 3/4" and the other 1/2". The Henry Fields tree was the smallest I got, it was under 1/2"; the Raintree trees were in the 1/2-3/4 inch range. Arboreum was 3/4-1" caliper.

Scott

With my experiences with burnt ridge's paw paws, I'm going to assume that they are probably field grown bare root plants that are grafted, root-pruned, and then stuck in a 4" square pot vs really being acclimated and grown in a container. Hopefully, my experience with them was not the norm.

Harvestman the scroll bar is that long strip to the right with an arrow at the top and bottom. Just Right Click on it and then Left Click on Bottom in the pop up menu.

Xentar If Burnt Ridge had sold the two whips they sent me at the price Willis Orchard sells whips I would not have felt shafted by them. I would not have purchased them because I dont buy whips but yea its nice to know what I am buying before it arrives. With burnt Ridge its the same price for a ¼" whip and a ¾" pruned tree and you dont know which one you are buying until it arrives. Words mean things and when important things like size are not in a description there are bound to unhappy customers. I dont think I will ever purchase from Burnt Ridge again.

Thanks for your observations on loquats and Willis. My wife killed our loquat a couple years ago. I plan on replacing it next Fall. Willis Orchard was the place I was planning on buying from. However after reading your post I will for sure do some more research and ask them some hard questions before making a purchase.

Scottsmith from what you describe Cummins and Arboreum sound like companies I would like to buy from. Arboreum is sold out for the season but I will be watching to see what they have this Fall planting season.

thisisme: I asked willis many questions regarding their loquats, and they couldn't give me a straight answer. I asked them if they layered them or if they grafted and asked about their rootstock, because I was interested in getting some grafted onto quince rootstock.

In the same paragraph, they said told me they were rooted cuttings and seedlings at the same time! I took a chance. I think the only thing that could convince me to buy more loquats from them is if a credible source comes out and says that the seedlings take on the same characteristics of the parent trees.

Tim, got it, thanks.

Scott, now I'm convinced Cummins gives me the wholesale price at the expense of getting their runts. Now I'll stop badmouthing the size of their stock although someone who I sold some big trees to (I only sell on-site, so I'm not pushing product here) who came all the way from Virginia had ordered from Cummins and was replacing those trees with mine. He said they were tiny sticks.

Hman, I thought Cummins sold purely by size/quantity, not wholesale/retail. In other words, the price is calculated by a table based on caliper and # ordered. I have also had them ask what caliper I wanted when they had stock at multiple sizes. Maybe you are always ordering a big quantity of one variety which means they are small caliper (rather than selling you three large and five small they sell you eight small to be consistent on the order); I am usually ordering one per variety.

Scott

Wholesale is usually 5 to a bundle of a single variety and nurseries have their own rules about quantity pricing but I was never given an option to pay more for larger trees and I told Jim that the bigger the better. I always ask for the largest available trees and order very early. I haven't ordered from Cummins for a few years and maybe their operation has grown creating more options.

Update..

This is probably my last online purchase until the Fall 2010 planting season. Though I have purchased 5-6 trees locally that I havent shown and may purchase a few more.

I called and placed an order at Willis Orchard on March 8th. I called because the Lapins Cherry and Beauty Plum are in limited supply and could not be ordered online.

The order was shipped three days later on the 11th which is much better than most and only equaled in my experience by Peaceful Valley. The trees arrived today March 17th nine days from order to delivery. I was offered some free fertilizer but asked for a free Transcendent Crabapple and was given one. Keep in mind this is the 1st tree that Willis has given me or that matter that any nursery has given me. I only asked because this is my 3-4 order this year and I had read a review at the Garden Watchdog where they had give a free tree to a reviewer who had placed a big order. Shipping was $ 31.95 which I feel is very reasonable given the size and weight of the box and contents.

1 Lapins Cherry Tree 5-6' (1"cal. Branched Fruiting Size.) $41.95
1 Beauty Plum Tree 5-6' (Branched) $26.95
1 Methley Plum Tree 5-6' (Branched) $26.95
1 Blenheim Apricot Tree 6-7' (1"cal. - Fruiting Size) $31.95
1 Transcendent Crabapple Tree 5-6' (3/4" cal. - Branched) (Complimentary Gift)

The box was adequate for the trees shipped. The roots were wrapped in black plastic and there was a good amount of that jell that holds water bouncing around with the roots. However there was a lot of air space and the roots of some of the trees were bone dry and a couple of the trees showed signs of obvious stress which I will get too below.

Willis Orchard Box. Notice the bird eating monster on the lower right hand side.
{{gwi:126215}}

Trees out of box.
{{gwi:126216}}

Trees with roots.
{{gwi:126217}}

The trees.

The Blenheim Apricot Tree 6-7' (1"cal. - Fruiting Size) $31.95.
{{gwi:126218}}
This tree is the nicest tree I have ever received from an online nursery. The pictures do not do this tree Justus. It is a bit over 7 tall and well branched with a large root system and roughly 1 ¼ caliper. I did not take the time to bend the branches out before taking the pictures. I would say the tree is roughly 7 6" tall X 3 6" wide X 4 6" wide. Thats the good now for the bad. The tree arrived leafed out. The leaves where very light in color. My bet is the tree was just starting to break dormancy when it was shipped and it was leafing out during the six full days it spent in the box. Man I wish I had purchased this tree earlier. I think it likely the tree will lose its current leaves. After all they have lived all of their life in a box and were planted in full sun at 87deg F. Even so I love this tree and am very pleased to have it. I expect this tree to live and hopefully thrive. If it does not thrive this year Im sure it will next.

The Lapins Cherry Tree 5-6' (1"cal. Branched Fruiting Size.) $41.95.
Left to Right Blenheim Apricot and Lapins Cherry.
{{gwi:126219}}
The tree arrived in excellent condition and looks like it will be pushing leaves in a few days. The tree is a close to 7 tall and has an adequate root system and was 1" caliper. The tree has three supple and bendable central leaders and no real branches. Not the best configuration but I plan on spreading them and Im confident it will make a nice tree though I hope it grows more branches. I would be lying if I said I would not like more branching but its still a nice tree. I expect this tree to live and thrive.

Methley Plum Tree 5-6' (Branched) $26.95
{{gwi:126220}}
This tree arrived in poor shape. The tree is a bit over 6 tall and ¾"+ caliper with a good sized root system. The roots were higher up in the wrapping and I think this tree had little or no water for the six days it was in the box. It had flowered and leafed out before arrival. Nearly all of the leaves and flowers died while in transit and some of the small branches are brittle and I think dead. A real pity as the tree is of good size and well branched with a good root system. I hope it pulls through and does better than my fears.

Beauty Plum Tree 5-6' (Branched) $26.95
Left to Right Transcendent Crabapple and Beauty Plum.
{{gwi:126221}}
This tree arrived suffering a little from lack of moisture. It also was toward the top of the root packaging. This tree was a bit over 6 and well branched with an adequate root system. It arrived already leafing out and flowering and some (about 30%) of the leaves and flowers died due to lack of moisture in transit. Thankfully the branches were still supple which gives me hope. The branch angles are very steep and remind me a lot of my two Santa Rosa Plum trees. I expect this tree to live and thrive.

Transcendent Crabapple Tree 5-6' (3/4" cal. - Branched) (Complimentary Gift)
This tree was a bit over 6 with a small but adequate root system. It appears to have been topped at roughly 4. Two new central leaders have formed each a little over 2 long. Ordinarily I prefer un-topped trees but all of the trees I have ordered from other nurseries arrive topped somewhere around 4-5 like Peaceful Valley and I am happy with all of them. I see the two leaders as a bonus and the tree is free so yea Im happy. Sure I would love to see more branching but I will bend these two leaders apart a bit more and I bet it will make a real nice looking tree. I expect this tree to live and thrive.

h-man, just received a small order from Cummins. Only two trees, but they definitely were not runts.

Lapins was 7/8" caliper. I'm going to try fanning it against the garage and actually was hoping for a slightly smaller tree. Shape and size is similar to TIM's Lapins above. Lopping it off at 18 inches made me wince for a second.

Shinseiki was 3/4" caliper.

Not bad for about $22 each. Both arrived in great shape. I'm planning to put a cider apple Belgian fence in next Spring and think these are the guys to order from.

Cummins is a great nursery. You can't go wrong going with them, especially in MA. Good luck,
-Glenn

My order from Gurney's has yet to arrive, though they shipped it last Friday. I don't know why anyone would ship live plants on a Friday, but I'm hoping for the best. According to Gurney's website, the ETA was the 24th and the tracking number said it was out for final delivery yesterday, so hopefully it'll be here today. I don't think they can take another weekend on a delivery truck.

My Miller Nurseries order has apparently shipped, but I emailed them for a tracking number or more information regarding my order and they never replied. I'm assuming it shipped because they recently charged my account. There isn't any information on their website regarding shipping other than something like "Orders are shipped at the proper time for your area" which doesn't help me at all. I really hope they didn't ship late in the week like Gurney's did. I'm regretting that order already and I haven't even seen the plants yet!

My Nourse order is supposed to ship on the week of the 5th of April, and I know I can count on that one to be on time and in great condition.

Thanks guys, Cummins just keeps sounding better and better to me all the time.

homertherat did you check on those nurseries at Dave's Garden Watchdog before placing your orders?

Yes I did. Gurney's had a good deal going (not sure that it was much of a good deal anymore) for $25 off a $50 purchase. Most of the problems people had seemed to be receiving the wrong variety or something similar which I would be OK with, so I went ahead and ordered from them.

I finally got my order from them, though. Or at least I got a part of it. For some reason, they split my order into parts and only shipped my strawberries and not the rest of it. I asked them to change the shipping date from late April to now and they replied saying it would ship last Friday. I figured that meant the whole order... Well, the rest of my stuff should be here in 2 weeks.

No sign of the Miller order yet.

Here's my list:
Isons:
Black Beauty Muscadine
Sugargate Muscadine
Darlene Muscadine
Ison Muscadine
Late Fry Muscadine
Yates apple
Horse apple
Bing cherry
Stella cherry
Red Haven peach
Blenheim apricot
Moorepark apricot
Green gage plum
Rebecca's gold paw paw
Pakistan Mulberry
LSU purple fig

All were great.

Raintree:
Ashmeade's kernel apple
Esophus Spitzenburg apple
Baby crawford peach
Hunza apricot
Violette de bordeaux fig

All looked good except the Baby Crawford peach -- looked sick, scaly, etc... Gave it an extra heavy pruning when it went into the ground. Watching it carefully, and have no problem giving it the old Heave-ho if it turns out to be sick.

My only concern with Raintree is rootstocks -- as Rootstocks that may do well way out west may not do so well in SC.. We have acidy red clay that tends to run very low on Calcium... and they don't... The local extension agent couldn't find any nearby research on the either the Citation or Krymsk 86 rootstocks... so that it is a bit of an unknown... Wish they offered peaches on Guardian.

... Wish I could find someone back East who sells some of those great old varieties on the rootstocks that are proven in the Deep South...

Thanks

John

homertherat watch your credit card. I have read a lot of negative feedback for Gurney's that start out just like your order.

john in sc what a nice assortment. I have thought about ordering from Isons before. I noticed they have nearly identical stock to Willis Orchard (though with fewer varieties) and use most of the same pictures. They also sell by tree size like Willis and are located in Ga like Willis.

I like to know what size tree I'm getting which has kept me from ordering from raintree. I have read reviews that said their trees come in all sizes without warning.

For the past 5 years I have ordered peaches and plums from Bay Laurel and have been pleased with the quality of their BR trees and their customer service. This past year however I decided to give a couple other catalogs a try because they had some things that Bay Laurel doesn't carry, or wouldn't ship in the fall.

One Green World:

Ordered a Nikita's Gift persimmon and a pineapple guava early for fall planting. A few weeks before the ship date, was contacted by customer service on the telephone to say that they do not ship persimmons to California (which I hadn't noticed was mentioned in the catalog? Maybe I missed it...). They were nice and changed it to another feijoa. Both feijoas arrived at the right time in good condition. They are growing well in pots at the moment.

Raintree:

Ordered a Panache Tiger fig, a Parfianka pomegranate, and a Red Silk pomegranate for fall shipment. The potted fig (5')and the Red Silk pom(2')arrived exactly on time, very healthy and nicely sized root systems, each with a few leaves. They were planted in ground immediately and promptly grew and leafed out a little bit more before going dormant in the winter.

An email was sent explaining that the Parfianka pom would not be available for shipment until February. Actually, it arrived the second week of January (18"). I potted it and it has leafed out ahead of my other two poms. However last week I noticed it has aphids and whiteflies, which surprised me because I thought poms never had these pests and my other two poms have none of these. Hmmmmm..

In late January I ordered a Hollywood plum, a Violette de Bordeaux fig and a Meeker raspberry from Raintree: they arrived 3 weeks later. I am very impressed with the fig and the plum trees. The plum is about 4 feet tall and has 6 nice 3/8" caliper branches which were perfectly, evenly spaced around the 3/4" trunk and pruned evenly at the top to sort of make it look like a menorah (not sure if this is on purpose or not, heh!). It was planted that week in ground and has about 7" of growth now from the little buds. The VDB fig is a 3/8" caliper and about 18" tall. It is in a pot and already has two breba figs sprouting along with the leaves, yay!

The Meeker raspberry was planted the very next day, however it is over a month later and it appears to be dead. I never saw any sign of life from it. My overall experience with Raintree was positive however and I would definitely order from them again.

Bay Laurel:

In early December I placed an order to Bay Laurel for a Violette De Bordeaux fig, but was told that it was already sold out for the season. So I called about two weeks later and ordered a Janice Seedless Kadota fig and a Saijo persimmon. I requested that they be sent ASAP, the first week of January if possible. AS the date approached I got the email confirming my order. My persimmon arrived about a week later than expected, but no big deal. It was about 3 feet tall and 1/2" caliper with a good root system. I planted it immediately in ground and it is doing well. I emailed about the JSK fig and a week went by before Bay Laurel responded. I was informed that their supplier was late in shipping to them, and it would be shipped to me hopefully in another week. That week came and went and once again, no fig. I emailed again, got a response 3 days later saying the supplier still hadn't sent them the JSK figs but they were expected within a week. I asked if I could tag on three Bababerry plants to my order, I was told that could be done and I said yes, please do that. No response, and the fig arrive two weeks after that email with no bababerries. I figure they lost my email request in the shuffle of the bareroot season. The JSK fig was a nice 3/4" caliper, 4' size, however it was terribly root bound. I spent quite some time untangling and pruning the root system before I could plant it. Thankfully it seems to be leafing out well, none the worse for it. However I am surprised that this came from Bay Laurel, as their grower Dave Wilson is very high quality and this JSK fig appears to be older stock and should not be so pot bound. I could have just gone to Armstrong Gardens and picked upa JSK fig two weeks earlier if I'd known ahead of time my Bay laurel order would be so late and so root bound. (Armstrong also carries Dave Wilson, and just this season for the first time apparently had JSK figs for sale).

I will probably order again from Bay Laurel to get bababerries and boysenberries next January, but never again figs based on this experience.

This winter we went overboard with fruit trees:

Peaceful Valley: Frost peach, Santa Rosa plum, Fuyu persimmon, Desert King fig, Osborne Prolific fig, Albion strawberries, Seascape strawberries.

Indiana Berry: Prelude raspberries, Caroline raspberries, White Imperial currant.

Raintree: Triple Crown blackberry, Black Pearl blackberry.

Burnt Ridge: Saturn Donut peach, male/female Kolomikta arctic kiwi, Interlaken grape, Glenora grape.

Cloud Mountain: Jupiter grape, Canadice grape, Reliance grape.

I've had very good experiences with all of them, except:

1. Raintree: What they sell as 1 year old blackberry plants look more like recently rooted tips. Definitely not the size I was expecting.
2. Still waiting for the Saturn peach, raspberries and Fuyu persimmon tree to break dormancy.

Isons is the place to order Muscadines -- Apparently, they have been working on muscadine breeding for a *LONG* time...

Our local extension agent told me that Isons Black Beauty is consistently the best muscadine he has ever eaten... It doesn't have much of that Musky-ness and has a *Very* nice sweet and tart flavor... that isn't sour/bitter like many semi-wild muscadines can be....

I am also hoping that their fruit trees were better adapted to our local Hot and Swampy climate than whatever miscellaneous plants that Lowes and Home Depot source from the lowest bidder through their massive purchasing departments....

In general, my only hesitation about buying trees from Way Off somewhere else... Many of those places way out west have some amazing varieties that we just can't buy back East -- but some of those varieties are adapted to dry, rainless summers.... and die in our HOT and swampy wet summers and our crazy hot/cold/hot/cold winters and late frosting springs... Then, are they grafted on stock that likes our acidy, rocky, Ca, Mg, and N deficient red clay soil...

It seriously has me thinking about learning to graft...

Thanks

John

I'll second the recommendation for Isons. Although I have only ordered from them a couple of times, Isons actually supplies some of the local nurseries and feed stores here with muscadine vines and other fruit trees. I've got about 8 or 10 muscadines from them, a shinko pear, plumcot, quinces, and probably a few other things from them.

We ordered half a dozen blueberry plants from Ison's in mid-winter. The plants arrived within a couple weeks (hey, it's the South). They were beautifully packaged and in great shape. All are showing good growth and look healthy.

girlbug2 I know Bay Laurel buys trees from Dave Wilson. However the trees I received from them did not have Dave Wilson tags. They were also much smaller than any tree I have received with Dave Wilson tags. For that matter they were smaller than any tree I have ever received from any nursery.

I like big trees so I think I will be sticking with Peaceful Valley, Ison's, Commins and Willis Orchard for the majority of my purchases.

All of you have me thinking good thoughts about Ison's and Cummin's. john in sc come the Fall planting season I think I will be buying some of Isons Black Beauty Muscadines on your recommendation.

mrainey went right to Ison's to check out their Blueberries. Great prices for the size. Unfortunately none of their varieties will reliably crop here in the low desert.

I just got my orders from both Gurney's and Miller Nurseries today. I'll start with Gurney's.

They got the order right. That's more than I was expecting. I ordered a Red Lake currant, Black Hawk black raspberry, Chandler blueberry, and 50 of their Whopper strawberry plants, which arrived a week ago. There were more than 60 strawberry plants total and all were in great condition.

My Black Hawk is little more than a twig with roots (it's like 1/8th inch thick), but it looks alive. The currant and blueberry are both pretty small too (~1/4 inch), but they both look fine. I'm impressed that they got everything I ordered to me in a timely manner. Most reviews on the Watchdog say they are slow with shipments and bad at giving you what you ordered, but they nailed it this time.

There wasn't any notification of shipment, so unfortunately I don't have the spot ready for them to be planted yet. They'll have to sit in a pot of potting soil overnight until I can get them set up tomorrow. There is currently an inch or two of snow on the ground because we had a freak snow storm a few days ago that dumped almost 5 inches on us. It's almost all gone though.

Now for the Miller order. I ordered their grape collection, 3 Fall Gold raspberries and a Purple Royalty raspberry. All of them are at least twice the thickness of the biggest stuff from Gurney's and have more than twice the root mass, the grapes especially. The grapes are almost an inch thick and have a ridiculous amount of roots on them. I had to get 2 buckets just to fit them all in so they could soak for an hour. The Fall Gold's are just starting to bud out and the Purple Royalty is right behind them.

I never received an email from Miller besides the order confirmation, so I had no idea when they were going to ship. I definitely have some work to do tomorrow.

All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with both orders. I don't know if I'll be ordering from Gurney's again because of the size of their stock. Also, they have weird customer service. I don't want to say it's bad yet, because I'm not so sure. I emailed them once asking if my shipment date could be moved up to next week (so they shipped early, but I guess that's better than later). They replied back saying that it's not possible to change the date and that they are shipped at the appropriate time for my area. Well, 2 weeks later, I received another email from a different CS rep saying that my plants would be shipped at the time I asked. They did help me out, but it just took them a while. Better than nothing I guess.

I'll probably be ordering from Miller again. I received excellent quality plants that were packed very snugly and kept moist all along the way. I don't like how they don't give you any information regarding your order though. They say shipping is between mid March and May 31st, which doesn't help at all. I would feel safe ordering from them again, but I don't like not knowing when my plants are going to arrive. A simple email at the time of shipping would help here.

That's my experience so far. My Nourse order is shipping on Monday, but I don't expect anything to be wrong with it. They have a great score on the Watchdog.

homertherat I bet your berry order from Nourse is better than what you received today. I find it annoying to say the least that most nurseries don't provide a tracking number and delivery date. Peaceful Valley and Willis Orchard both email a tracking number the day they ship.

Hey guys do Ison's and Cummin's email tracking numbers when they ship?

Cummins does e-mail a tracking number when they ship.

Ison's emailed a FedEx tracking number, plants arrived the next day.

Gah! It snowed 2 inches last night... I've got my plants in wet potting soil now. I was hoping to plant them out today, but it's STILL snowing out there. It's supposed to be gone by the middle of next week, but I'm not sure if it's good for them to be inside for that long.

Well, I finally got the rest of my Gurney's order, so I'll review the whole order now.

First, they've got some pretty ridiculous prices. Most of their stuff is more expensive than any other nursery, and the size and quality is less than what others send out. I received a black raspberry plant that was almost 1/8th inch thick, and it cost 6 bucks for the single plant. Strangely enough, I ordered one blueberry from them and it was twice the size of the one I ordered from Stark Bro's. That isn't saying much though. The Stark Bro's blueberry had 3 stems, both of them less than 1/4th inch thick. The Gurney's blueberry had 3 stems that were barely 1/4th inch thick.

Second, they have not so great customer service. I emailed them trying to find out when my order would be shipped. I waited a week and didn't get a response, so I sent another. I got a message back a few days later saying they can't change the shipping date and it would be sent at "the proper time for my area". Then, about a week later, I got another message from a different customer service rep saying it would be sent ASAP. I received my strawberries about a week after that. Then another piece of my order came 2 weeks after that with no email notification, and the final piece came a week after that, again with no notification. Luckily I had time to plant them when they arrived.

I don't know if this is necessarily a bad thing, but they attract customers with deals like spend $50, get $50 free. It would be a great thing if they had reasonable prices on their merchandise, but with the size of their plants, I'm not sure I would even want to pay half price for the stuff they send out. Hopefully everything will have enough time to send out roots before the heat of summer gets here, but only time will tell.

I'm not sure I'll order from them again. They got my stuff to me, but that's about all I can say. All of the plants were small and had tiny root systems. The blueberry might be the exception, but it was still pretty small. Customer service was iffy, but it turned out that they helped me after telling me they couldn't. It wasn't necessarily a bad order, but my orders from Stark Bro's and Miller were much easier and had better plants for cheaper prices.

homertherat I guess I must sound like a chronic complainer to everyone here but I would not have been happy with that order. Based upon information I have learned in this thread there are three more companies I am willing to send my money to and several others I would not touch with a ten foot pole and Gurney's is one of them. I am far happier with paying $ 16.95 for blueberry plants that I know will be 3-4' tall than I am at paying $ 7.50 for plants that are 6-10" tall. The same goes for paying $ 28.50 for a tree that is 5-6' tall 3/4"+ caliper that is well branched over paying $ 16.50 for a 36" tall grafted 1/4" caliper branchless whip. By the way that branchless whip is still alive but the top 18+" of it is dead. Forget about a refund Burnt Ridge only guarantees it will leaf out. Thats one other company I will not purchase from again.

Hi all
Got 107 trees from Adams County last week and they look great. The trees were what we ordered, on the right rootstock, nice roots, still damp, and shipped when we had asked.

Our order from Cummins was shipped on time, they sent e-mail confirmation, (although UPS was a day late). They also were well rooted and very large diameter. I personally like to plant smaller trees, they seem to take off quicker and do better (just my opinion).

Our order from C&O Nursery was shipped on time, moist roots, proper sizes, proper rootstocks. A few of the cherry trees did have a significant bow to the trunk though. And they sent 6 extra trees that we didn't order. I won't complain, even though they could have shipped the holes for them ;) Tired of digging.

All three companies had excellent customer service. Would recommend them to all.

Jake

I called Willis Orchard today to let them know how my trees are doing. The Methley Plum that arrived looking near dead is dead for sure. The Garden Prince Genetic Dwarf Almond tree has failed to leaf out but is still alive. They said if I want to give it a try cutting the Almond tree severely may help. I will be cutting it back today. I don't want to replace either tree until the Fall season so I told them I would wait to see how the Almond tree does before sending the Methley back. I know some people get really mad about having to send a tree back to get a replacement. However I asked how much of the trees I need to send back and was told to send a small part of the root section and about 6" above that. If the Almond tree does not make it and I have my doubts that it will. I think it will cost me $ 4.00-6.00 total to send them back which is not a deterrent.

Only the bottom 20" of the tiny 1/4" caliper Mulberry I purchased from Burnt Ridge leafed out. The rest of the tree is toast. The other trees I purchased from them leafed out but are growing slower than any of the other twenty some trees I purchased from other nurseries. I know it may sound like I'm being nit-picky but all the trees were planted identically and the best tree from BR has 3-4" of new growth. The trees I purchased from other nurseries have 2-3'+ of new growth. Burnt Ridge only warranties that their trees will leaf out so no need to contact them for a refund or adjustment for the crappy little trees they sent me. I don't think I will ever order from them again.

Final order came today from Raintree.

Received the following:

Danube Cherry on G5 - 3/4" caliper, well branched, Excellent root system. Such a nice tree that I stuck it in a pot and didn't need to touch it with the pruners.

Black Gold Cherry on G5 - 5/8" caliper, root system in excellent shape as well. Had to prune the roots a bit to fit in a 22" pot. Think I'll give Spanish Bush pruning a try.

Multi-graft Euro Pear - root system is good, but not great. Looks like it got dug a little shallow. Should be ok though. The grafts are well balanced and this will probably be a pretty easy tree to train.

Fruit Cocktail on Lovell (apricot/peach/italian plum/shiro plum) - The worst tree of the bunch. Root system about similar to the Euro Pear, but two of the grafts are poorly placed and will be difficult to keep from growing into each other. The shiro plum is also way dominant on this tree. Nature of the beast though, not Raintree's fault.

I also ordered a Ken's Red Hardy Kiwi, male arguta kiwi and Hardy Chicago fig. All 3 are quite nice. The Kiwi are a little worse for wear bouncing around in a box for a week, but should pull through just fine.

Overall, very pleased and would order from them again in a heartbeat.

People have been Gurneys lots of bad rap, but I actually prefer to order from them, because they have a lifetime guarantee. In the past I have lost several fruit trees purchased from other companies even during the second winter. To be honest, I have found the smaller stock often grows better for me than the hefty ones. Gurneys has always cheerfully replaced any plants that didn't make it. I just wish they carried more of the northern varieties.
Northwoodswis

got my big order from Burnt Ridge today. Didn't take pictures, sorry, but I was racing to plant before the rain...

Here's the skinny:

2 figs, Italian Honey and Desert King. Both were well rooted, with IH having much finer roots but still plenty of them. Both plants were about 14-16 inches tall once potted. The top 4-5 inches of DK was moldy, so I snipped it off. I did a little root-pruning on DK before potting up it as well.

Jumbo HArdy Kiwi was potted and 6 feet tall (climbing a bamboo pole. It looks great, but because much of the growth is all twined around the pole I will be cutting it back severely. This was one of only 3 plants which were leaved out (the other 2 are partially evergreen)

Smokey SErviceberry. Looks great on top, one root was wrapped around the main tap-root going down. I cut the girdling root off and planted it. I have no doubts it will be fine (it was about 2 feet tall)

Sugar Cane Jujube: Awesome roots. Thick 18 inches long just the roots! Top growth is ok, with the main stem and all top growth turning at a 120 degree angle about 18 inches above the ground. It will be getting pruned to retrain its top. I potted it up for the time as its final place is not yet ready (I have a tree to remove)

Yellowhorn: great plant, 20 inches long above the ground. nice fat buds ready to break.

Crandall currant. There must be somethign about these plants because I've ordered them from 3 different places and the roots always seem sparse. I would have had trouble telling which way to plant it had there not been buds emerging from the top. root looks like a single taproot with a right angle about 6 inches below the ground.

Kokuso and Weeping mulberries. The weeper is for a friend at work. It looks good, except there are not yet any weeping branches. The stem is interestingly twisted and I think she'll love it. It is a whip about 2 feet long. The roots are orange yellow and healthy off the main tap. Kokusa is smaller, 16 inches, a whip also with similar roots. I did a little root trimming on this one as a couple roots seem to have dessicated from the trip.

Empress tree: (no boos or hisses, my mother in law wanted one) potted and very small. 3 leaves emerging from a 1 inch stem. It will be fine, I've seen these things take off.

Trifoliate Orange: (bought 2 as gifts for a couple gardener friends who were interested in it). great looking healthy plants with leaves (evergreen as mentioned previously). Hard to pot for my friends as they are pretty pokey plants. Each plant is easily 16 inches tall with one of them having 2 main stems and the other pitchforks into three.

I ordered a fir tree that came potted and looks fine and a dewberry they were unable to supply.

Not the best order I've gotten from them, but I'm still quite happy with it. I probably would have wanted to look for another jujube (given the strange shape the one I received has) but in time I'm sure it will be fine and I know I can correct the stem problem. The fig mold was likely unavoidable given that the package travelled for 7 days to get here. I'd rather have 4 inches of one plant to trim back than have plants whose roots were too dry or whose survival was questionable.

Had they let me know the were unable to supply the dewberry I would have replaced it on the order (Lock Ness) and ordered the Dewberry elsewhere.

Now I just have to think of where to plant some of the plants I potted until I could place them.

~Chills

Just a quick update. The Methley Plum I said was dead from Willis Orchard started leafing out late last week. The Almond they sent me still looks to be alive but as of yet still has not leafed out.

chills I'm glad you're happy with your order from Burnt Ridge. For me though when I am paying for a tree I think the company should inform me in the description if said tree is only going to be 1-2' tall. For that matter if a tree is not described as a whip I feel like I'm being ripped off if I receive a whip or a tree under 4' tall.

Thats just me though and I understand where you're coming from.

Hi All-
Got my 3 gallon sized wineberries from Edible Landscaping today. They look great!
-Glenn

{{gwi:126222}}

Being too lazy to read all the previous posts thoroughly, I ask:
What's the verdict?

Best nurseries from which to order great value trees?

dian57 I don't think there is an easy answer.

Some people like small trees and some people like to order large trees. Some people have had good experiences with a nursery while others have had a bad experience with the same nursery. There was a lot of infighting in this thread from people who feel strongly one way or another.

I feel I can give an unqualified thumbs these nurseries I have purchased from.

Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply

Bay Laurel Nursery

Just Fruits and Exotics

Okay, here's what I've ordered and will be getting over the next few months...
-Burnt Ridge-
3 alnifolia Serviceberry seedlings, 3 Aronia seedlings, 5 Chinese Magnolia vines, 2 Akebia vines, 1 Apple Berry (pink) vine, 1 Arbequina olive, 1 Sweet Scarlet Goumi, 1 Edible Chinese Hawthorn, 1 Jumbo female hardy kiwi, 2 male Seaberry, 1 Garden's Gift female Seaberry, 1 each Captivator, Pixwell and Invicta Gooseberries.

-Hidden Spring-
1 Jonathan pawpaw, 1 Overleese pawpaw, 1 Prok persimmon, 2 Che trees, 2 Goumis, 2 Crandall currants, 1 male hardy kiwi, 1 Tifblue rabbiteye blueberry, 1 Climax rabbiteye blueberry

-Raintree-
3 x 1 pluot, 1 kokusa mulberry, 2 jelly palms, 1 Evereste Crabapple, 1 Karp's Sweet Quince, 2 Chilean Guavas, 1 Fragrant Spring Tree

-My Personal Vineyard-
1 Muscat of Alexandria, 1 Muscat Canelli

-Mail Order Natives-
4 Maypop vines

-Rolling River-
4 Feijoa seedlings, 2 Joy bush cherries, 1 Jan bush cherry

-Willis Orchards-
2 Vista White loquats, 1 Magnolia muscadine

-Edible Landscaping-
2 Champagne loquats, 1 Sugargate muscadine

first order due next week! :)