The 'Search' function will give you many hits and many, many, many more opinions to wade through. Very common question here. I won't give my opinion as we are affiliated with ADF.

Dan

You get what you pay for. The ten for $10 trees are SMALL. I got some just for the heck of it and 8 of the 10 sprouted leaves. Then the rabbits went crazy.

I have a couple of the $7 trees in my yard growing happily. Red Maple, a generic Japanese Maple, Dawn Redwood. What did I kill from them...2 Giant Sequoias (in St Louis mind you), Purple Smoke tree, a different red maple (had its planting area washed away lol), Southern Magnolia.

The Sequoias were alive and well when sent. Think its an infection that gets them here. The Red Maple was alive, its area literally got flooded. The Smoke tree and Magnolia never did much.

Giant Sequoia, Red Maple, Dawn Redwood in that order
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Same Dawn Redwood year or so ago
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Thanks for the info. It sounded like a nice idea to support them and get some trees at the same time. I'll do as you suggest and just support arbor and order healthy trees from a nursery. I am glad I've saved myself the hassle of getting some half dead trees.

So bare root should only ever be planted in the spring with any species?

Thank You

Jamie

trees are harvested in late fall or winter [its a zone issue].. and put into cold storage.. for shipping and planting in spring ...

its all about timing.. e.g. fall planting in my z5 is october ...

where am i going to find a wholesaler who is digging in oct???? and i surely dont want stock that has been in the fridge since last winter ...

in my z5 .... i can plant oct or april .... if i dig something out in my yard.. and it bare roots itself because of my sand.. but i replant it within minutes.. 99% success ...

but mail ordering add so many layers of variables under which you have no control ... that your success rate will fall dramatically ...

in other words.. had i gotten some stock in spring.. put it in a nursery bed for summer.. i could move it in fall ...

but i cant be ordering by mail to zones outside mine.. because the tree and my garden are not in sync...

make any sense??

kenps: seriously tornado .. from ice chest to 8 feet tall in one year... thats almost as good as my acorn grown black oak ... lol ....

lol. Perhaps I got distracted by having to change a diaper in the post. That's five years or so of growth I guess. Sorry if I was unclear but while I'm at it, I have some land down in the floodplain to sell you.... ;)

With most things in life it is all about percentages.

Ken, when mail ordering lately I have received a good amount of potted plants lately. With potted plants I have pretty darned good initial success. I always get the small ones, less likely to be pot bound. What do you think about mail ordering potted trees in the fall? 1 Gallon 3 footers are what I am picturing.

There are them "tubed" plants out there also. Those rather weird me out. Don't know if they're glorified bare rooterers. Tube plants are always tiny though.

Jamie, what type of project do you have going on? Do you need a couple difficult to find Japanese Maples or a few dozen trees?

Hi

The past 2 years everytime I've looked at ordering trees / bushs bare root it has either been too late in the winter or past spring cut off. We want a couple / few apple trees up north. I can get nice apple trees locally for around $50. I saw them on arborday for $10... I'm normally not that cheap. This summer I have ordered ( around 50 trees) and had delivered about $500 worth of rare trees (many japanese maples). The are all doing exceptionally well , zero problems. Will post photos later when I am at the comp.

I was just intrested in supporting arbor while getting some of the fruit trees I (my parents) want for up north.

Still intrested in ordering other rare / hard to find trees for my bonsai collection.

thanks
jamie

Sorry if I was unclear but while I'm at it, I have some land down in the floodplain to sell you.... ;)

==>>> i was just pulling you leg.. including mis-spelling your name ...

jamie .... you know what you will get.. you know our opinion .... then you may as well get a few apple trees for up north ... nothing to lose ... since you like the donation idea anyway ...

BTW .... neighbor made the donation.. gave me the trees... i potted all 10 in one pot in spring.. and 7 lived for 2 years on the pots.. totally abused for that winter ... i eventually threw them in the burn pile .... as i wasnt really interested in the weed trees they sent ...

you can succeed ... to some extent ... if you really know what you are doing ... like getting spring delivery ....

but my point was simply .. not to rely on success ... as they say.. you get what you pay for .. and 10 trees for ten bucks... you should not expect much ...

ken

I wouldn't even donate to ADF, because I don't think it's an especially effective organization - aside from their ability to raise funds, that is. Much less purchase anything from them, after reading the "Garden Watchdog" ratings.

The fact is, they often send weed trees in that inexpensive "membership" bundle. Not a responsible thing to do, IMHO, and the term "Foundation" in their name doesn't really mean a thing. If you want to donate to an environmental organization, or a group that encourages the planting of trees, your local arboretum might be a better choice.

Some pictures of the trees I got this summer from e-bay. These all comes in pots. They all arrived in very good condition. Excellent full root systems. The person I got them from is more of a specialized nursery, dealing with plants for Bonsai, they don't carry things like fruit trees, and the cost is a little higher because they are higher quality trees (though I may plant some of the trees I got from them in the yard).

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I forgot to post a photo of my Dawn Redwoods:

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Nice. You have a neat thing going on. I am amazed at the idea of a fast growing tree like dawn redwoos being used for bonsai. Some day model trains and bonsai are going to become hobbies of mine.

What is the maple with the orange tinged leaves in your first photo?

Ken does have a point. $10 is only two jack n cokes you'll be missing out on.

It is Acer palmatum 'Filigree' starting to change color for the fall.

Jamie

Well, I did donate. And I don't mind babying small trees, but it sounds like I shouldn't be very excited about what I have ordered from them. I was going to use several of them on a berm. Sounds like that isn't going to work.

We have grown several maples from seed in our yard, but it sounds like these Arbor trees aren't even very hardy?

ken, when you say "tree grower" what do you mean exactly? In the past I have picked up some trees from a local nursery and I have also ordered from Mendocino Maples. Do both of these count as reliable sources?

Here is a link that might be useful: Mendocino Maples

Doonie,

Nice to see another member from around here! Check out the Tennessee Gardening Forum here on GardenWeb, if you haven't already. I don't think I have seen you on there. I'll try to address some of your questions:

"...but it sounds like these Arbor trees aren't even very hardy?"

The hardiness (if that's really what you mean) of trees from the Arbor Day Foundation would depend on the species/type of tree and, possibly, their provenance. The downfall of buying from this organization is that you often get very small and sometimes unhealthy nursery stock.

"ken, when you say "tree grower" what do you mean exactly?"

I think what Ken is saying is that the Arbor Day Foundation doesn't grow their own plants. They contract with regional suppliers, who actually ship the plants to their customers. If you deal with a source that actually grows their own stuff (at least sees it before it goes out the door), you may be more likely to get better quality plants.

"In the past I have picked up some trees from a local nursery and I have also ordered from Mendocino Maples. Do both of these count as reliable sources?"

You are the best judge of your local nurseries. Local nurseries range from fly-by-night fruit stands to well-established large nurseries with an incredibly knowledgeable staff and super customer service (got to admit, the later is more rare). I've never bought anything from Mendocino Maples Nursery, but they do appear to be a high quality organization. They have a perfect Garden Watchdog rating (wow!). Speaking of Garden Watchdog, check with them anytime you are considering purchasing from a mail-order source. I have found their reviews very very helpful. Reviews with more than a dozen entries are especially helpful. If you find a mail-order source not listed on Garden Watchdog, beware! They are either very small, very new, or a major rip-off (like TyTy).

Brandon,

Thanks a ton for the info! At least now I am prepared to get dinky unhealthy plants from the Arbor Day Foundation.

I am very glad to hear about the Garden Watchdog. I have mail ordered many plants in the past and I've been lucky.

I just discovered what looks to be an awesome nursery near Asheville, NC with lots of native stock. I'm dying to check it out!

Here is a link that might be useful: Meadowbrook Nursery

The package looked way better and way bigger then what was inside. Couple of dry sticks was all found )) NO MORE

Late May is NOT the right time to be mailing about bare root trees.

I got trees with a pityful rootsystem, the "trees" didn't survive. I think they have volunteers that aren't trained correctly. I hope they have improved their practices. My expierience was about 8-10 years ago, so I am hoping things are better now.

Save your money and buy local. I thought I was doing a nice thing making a little donation and getting some free trees. Very disappointed at the seedlings I got. No growth whatsoever and I'm fairly knowledgeable in gardening. Had to put wire racks around it so they didn't get mistaken for tall grass!

Come on dawg. You bash the organization, then you show a picture with no protection from rabbits / deer / etc, no mulch, overgrown by grass....

I don't entirely disagree with the things said here, but come on. It's a ten dollar donation. What did you think you were getting? I think this organization has a great mission.

An alternative idea for anyone considering this, is to make a $30 (or so) payment to a native plant society, and go on "plant rescues" of sites that sre going to be developed (essentially saving trees and other native plants from development.) There is a group like this in my area. Not sure if all native plant societies do plant rescues, however.

I got the Maple and the Metasequoia from Arbor Day a decade or more back.

CPTK, if I send $10 bucks to an organization who is to sell me a tree, I expect a tree that will live and grow in my yard. Their mission sucks if you get a twig with no root system, if you aren't gonna get a tree that'll live their mission needs improving. This guy could've sent his money out to another nursery, and got a good quality tree, and when you say Dawg, you should be Randy Jackson, or what ever his name is from "The voice" or the dude who is in the commercial judging dogs now. But, anyway, Arbor Day should be teaching their field diggers of trees to dig deeper and keep a good portion of roots on their seedlings that people are buying with their hard earned money. Evidently they are not teaching their tree diggers correctly if they aren't leaving enough roots on their seedlings for them to be planted and live in the yards of their supporters who buy their trees.

Neilnokoma 32, didn't say that a bunny, deer or who knows what ate their trees, they didn't grow! Now, if Neilnokoma32, says they had a good root system when planted, then I am wrong.

Arbor day should try the rootbags, or the pots that encourage a shallow root system for their trees. Maybe then their people who pack up the trees for sending will not have to work hard to dig up the trees, and they'll have a nice root system for their customers.

He didn't buy the tree. He made a donation to a nonprofit organization and was given 10 free trees. Do you expect them to send him 10 15 gallon trees and go bankrupt? What they send is perfectly reasonable under the circumstances. I know of no nursery on earth that will even pay the shipping to send you dirt for free.

Then the guy completely fails to provide a bare minimum standard of care, posts photographic evidence of said neglect, and blames Arbor Day for the result.

The mission doesn't suck. The mission is to promote the preservation and planting of trees. That's a noble mission.

If you want to make the case that professional nursersies provide better stock, then sure, I'd assume you are correct. But it's irrelevant because Arbor Day isn't a professional nursery.

My problem with them is that they never send trees for the correct zone. They'll send Pin oak and Sugar maple down here to the FL panhandle. I guess they think all of the US is in zone 6.

I was happy with Arbor Day's trees. The 6 sugar maples and 2 flowering crabapples I ordered from them 4 years ago are doing well today. I can't remember whether the seedlings were shipped bare root or in pots, but they were sent at the correct time.

Another place that I frequently order trees from is Coldstream Farm. They ship bare root seedlings and send them at the optimum time of year. I have purchased many blue and Norway spruce, sugar maples, birch, and apples from them, and those not eaten by deer are thriving.

I did buy red maples from AD that did not survive, but the balsam firs I bought from CSF also did not survive, so I attribute the failure of both to conditions not to the liking of the trees, or perhaps mishandling before they were shipped. Who knows?

Both places are in zone 5, one zone warmer than me. Arbor day is in Nebraska, and Coldstream farm is in Michigan. I would unhesitatingly buy from either place again, but I'm hoping that my tree buying days are over!

Just ordered some trees. Will report sometime next summer.

CPTK, of course they should'nt expect a large perfect tree for free, but, the guy above didn't say that his free trees were munched on by a critter, they didn't grow for him, they were free so "sucks to be him" but, unless they were critter eaten, thus his fault maybe, it's just like "here are your free trees, they may wither and croak in your yard, or MAYBE they'll grow!" I just wonder if they left enough roots on it when they dug it from the feild. Ryanga, good luck for your trees, hopefully they explained the correct way to dig up saplings from the field. I'll admit my experience was a good while ago. They are still sending me a report paper for my Hazelnut bushes and I had emailed them several times that the bushes died not long after planting, years ago. They need better volunteers.