Actually, their trees are more expensive....! And they only have a few selection, the kind I can get at my local greenhouse..

I thought they were more expensive but a good place to check is the garden watchdog site. This is what they had as reveiws http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/3298/

Yea because Fourwinds don't have any trees that bear fruit yet and fast growing have trees that are already bearing fruit. Of course that'll be more expensive. Also the air shipping fee for fourwinds is a wooping 75$!! At least to my area. Thats more than 2x the price of the tree itself which is pretty ridiculous... I just want to know if the quality of the trees from fastgrowingtrees is good or not.

So this satsuma mandarin tree I'm looking at in fastgrowingtrees is 99.95$ as a 3-4 feet tall which means its probably old enough to be bearing fruits. The great thing is shipping is free at this price! Now the biggest satsuma mandarin tree they have in fourwindsgrowers is about 2-3 ft tall at 40$ Plus shipping 75$ which makes it 115$. The stock itself maybe more expensive in fastgrowingtrees but I'm factoring in the shipping fee as well. So I guess it all comes down to the quality of the plants now.

I've ordered from them before and their trees are fine. If you spend a certain amount, the shipping is free. They don't have many varieties. My Meyer lemons - including my oldest - Alexander- is from them.

Their plants are not as nice as FW - two of my Meyer lemons were a bit lanky, but they are growing well and have filled out nicely. I've ordered from them several times. My tangelo is from them and it's a beautiful tree.

reviews on fast growing trees.com

the scoop

I would be inclined to stay away and their prices are high. Here are a few

Harris citrus

Brite leaf

Mckenie citrus

Just fruits and exotics

6b Steve

I want to add that any fruit on your 3-4 foot tree should be removed and the tree should be potted up and then wait a year before considering to allow your tree to fruit. Here is my tree 7 months after my graft grew.

New Zealand lemonade on US897 was grafted 8 months ago with the graft growing 6.5 months ago

6b Steve

I totally agree that the best bang for your buck is Harris, and they have a huge selection.

I wouldn't buy from FGT. I bought their largest size of Meyer lemon this summer and while it is the advertised size, it arrived spindly and with 75% of the leaves heavily damaged by citrus leaf miners. Customer service is going to send a new tree when the size is available again, but that hasn't happened yet, and to be honest, I don't think the tree should have been sent to begin with.

I think we do better when we buy trees from professional grafters and break any fruit off that is on the tree when it arrives. My 6.5 month old tree is 31 inches tall. That fits in the 2-3 ft. That is in their 59.99 range. The same tree would be $20 + $15 shipping.

6b Steve

How do you get it to be that big as 6.5 month year old? Does it have to do with grafting location? Because my sudachi tree is at least 6-7 years old and still about 2.5 feet in a pot.

I put my tree on my roof where it got sun 12 hours a day and I feed it a 5-1-2 NPK feed. every week and I foliage feed my tree with the same feed 2 times a day. It grew really nice. The US897 rootstock is very fast growing. I kept insects off with organic remedies. Can you post a picture of your sudachi.

6b Steve

Luciole, by FGT, do you mean Four Winds?

Steve is right. Although my trees from FGT are doing well, the two Meyers I ordered about a year ago were definitely tall and gangly...not a good shape at all even though they met their height specifications. One is the one I ended up chopping.

Vladimir, I meant Fast Growing Trees by FGT. Sorry for the confusion. :)

Vladimir, he means fast growing trees. Heruga, some varieties grow faster than others and some are naturally bigger trees. I have a tangelo (from FGT) that is the same height as my oldest Meyer lemon - the lemon tree is about 7 and the tangelo probably 3 (years). I don't know how big sudachi trees get, but that may explain the size difference.

My sudachi picture is in the 2016 november picture time thread and my previous thread asking about my sudachi so you can take a look at it there. And well I guess my sudachi is still small because I've never fertilized it until 2 weeks ago and never really took care of it properly. Wonder how big it'll get now that I started taking care of it...

So is it a bad idea to grow satsuma mandarins in a container then? It says it will become 14 feet tall and no way in heck can I bring a 14 ft tree indoors for the winter seasons.

Heruga, container trees are more limited in size. I know many in this board have satsuma trees in containers (that is one variety that I do not have ;-). The rootstock they are grafted onto can be a big help in keeping them small. I am no expert, but from my understanding, flying dragon is a dwarfing stock. I know FW uses some type of dwarf stock on their trees, but I don't know which. If you look on Briteleaf, they have a section for dwarf trees, but from what I've learned here, just growing them in containers limits their size.

Your tree is much more developed and show the growth structure that comes with age. I feed my trees well and I winter them under lights the first winter before they go in ground next spring. I get 2/3 of my growth in the winter for every tree I have grown. I don't know why. After 1 winter they are to big to come back in for a second winter. You tree in that picture says its hungry

Winter light setups customized for the specific tree in need.

When I foliar feed with full strength mixture I spray with enough to wash off left over residue from the last spraying. This prevents build up of feed from evaporation from the last spraying. I water with full strength feed 4 to 8 times a month depending on temperatures, sun, and wind. I feed with enough to wash out the last feeds extra What I collect then goes to other garden plants. You will have far better control over your tree in the winter than summer. That is when to provide light and feed. I count on the winter months for most of my trees growth.

Don't like ugly buckets. use spot light on your trees. The lights reflector sends the light in one direction. I use daylight CFL's

I use a modified setup based on Steve's bulb recommendation...here is a pic...for your tree, one light would likely be enough.

Steve, did you ever answer my question.............?

I know many of your trees are confined within those 5 gallon buckets..How do you prevent them from growing too much horizontally without them being confined in them? Do you cut the lateral branches off to keep them growing straight up and narrow? How long before they no longer fit in a bucket at that width?

Thanks

I did Mike.

These bucket lights are only good for one winter. the trees sent their shoots out and I bent them upwards to fit.

2 branches tied to fit in a 5 gallon bucket.

the 3rd tie on another limb.

highest bud on same tree.The middle cluster of 3

The lowest one.

This would be the 3rd winter at 5 feet across. I just let the trees do what they do and acomidatet them.

After 3 months in these bucket light my Sweetlee Tangerine trees got too big and were moved to.This is what my sweetlee's looked like after the second winter2.25 years old and 6.5 feet high. Notice the bucket to the left.

The bucket took my Sweetlee's from 3 feet to 12 feet of linear growth to give me a large skeleton tree to set branches on. This put me ahead by 2 years.

6b Steve

Hi! I purchased a 1-year Meyer lemon tree from Fast Growing Trees. They had fast shipping time and my tree can't in excellent form, but it was a bit chewed up by bugs. I live in MI so nurseries near me don't have citrus, so I don't regret my purchase.

Also, based on other past purchases from various sellers, I'd say fast growing trees gets a 7/10 on my book.

I have bought from Fast Growing Trees. They work with local growers (meaning they don't just ship all their own inventory) because they actually shipped me Four Winds Growers citrus trees in the past (Meyer lemon, navel orange, Mexican lime and clementine). I found bigger ones at a local nursery for some, so I gave a few of theirs away. Their trees have fruited the first year like they say, but they're expensive for what you get. In my area, you could go to an actual nursery and special order for the same price, while also getting a similar (or better) tree from local conditions that didn't go through huge shipping and that would also fruit the first year. That way you're also supporting local nursery staff.

But, that said, I have bought citrus from them before, as well as apples (at a previous house), raspberries, and a few other plants/trees. They all did fine.

Dint buy from fast growing trees i bought 2 apple trees from them it said they would produce the next year. that was 6 years ago. nothing! they are a farse! i bought the largest ones so i wiuod get fruit sooner. a hundred dollars apiece. dont buy

My advice.

Do not purchase from this disreputable business.

I ordered close to a $1,000 worth of fruit trees and shrubs.

The fruit trees were of poor quality, and of course just like all the other people, I was advised to keep the trees, and if they did not "come back" to call before the 1 year guarantee was up. I have recently contacted them with pictures, asking for my money back.

They said, I could have replacement trees, but pay shipping and sales tax or a credit.

I want my money back. My advice...

If you receive poor product (which seems to be the NORM) REFUSE the product,

Immediately call your bank and put in a chargeback for the amount. Let the FastGrowingTrees.com decide how to deal with getting their garbage product back.

DO NOT BUY from this company.

I ordered two trees from FGT and some fertilizer on April 27th, and it is now May 19th. Their std policy is to ship within three business days. It has been three weeks. There is no effective customer service, at least in my experience. Their AI chat bot gives vanilla answers and promises a response from a real person. No response. If someone actually called or wrote to me and explained the delay and what I could expect, I might feel disappointed or even discouraged. But I would not feel angry like I do right now. Is this tree business 'shady' or only incompetent. I have not yet decided -- I only know I have no trees and this issue has unnecessarily delayed me and my landscaping contractor. I wanted to plant in mild Spring weather, not in a heat spell. Two thumbs down at this point.

Slightly damaged tree or damaged tree is a damaged tree the excuse made by customer service when I receive a slightly damaged tree, which is still damaged. Was it protected by one year warranty here’s the problem. The FedEx had the tree sitting at the local facility for 4 to 5 days because they were packaging it up and wrapping it up in their plastic and literally chopped off a whole foot of the box so they folded the tree and on top of self damaging the trunk top of the tree and then just taped it over. I brought this up with fast growing trees and tossed to their customer service and was told that their expert said it’s just stressed. Don’t worry about it. It didn’t matter that the root ball was completely dried out. You’re covered by one year warranty. OK I should be instantly covered anyway since the tree was damaged so they wiggled around that entire conversation by this saying it is slightly damaged damage is damaged no matter how you look at it by the shipping company so they’ll probably file a claim with the shipping company to get money while sticking me with a slightly damaged tree or damaged tree. It’s still damaged either way and not what I paid for and not what was insured so pretty much you’re telling me to wait six months to a year and if there’s any signs of problems they’ll replace it you shouldn’t have to wait around. I sent them pictures showing the damage and all they could say it was slightly damaged. Damage is damage damage is damage and it’s not what I paid for so that’s your customer support

Slightly damaged tree or damaged tree is a damaged tree the excuse made by customer service when I receive a slightly damaged tree, which is still damaged. Was it protected by one year warranty here’s the problem. The FedEx had the tree sitting at the local facility for 4 to 5 days because they were packaging it up and wrapping it up in their plastic and literally chopped off a whole foot of the box so they folded the tree and on top of self damaging the trunk top of the tree and then just taped it over. I brought this up with fast growing trees and tossed to their customer service and was told that their expert said it’s just stressed. Don’t worry about it. It didn’t matter that the root ball was completely dried out. You’re covered by one year warranty. OK I should be instantly covered anyway since the tree was damaged so they wiggled around that entire conversation by this saying it is slightly damaged damage is damaged no matter how you look at it by the shipping company so they’ll probably file a claim with the shipping company to get money while sticking me with a slightly damaged tree or damaged tree. It’s still damaged either way and not what I paid for and not what was insured so pretty much you’re telling me to wait six months to a year and if there’s any signs of problems they’ll replace it you shouldn’t have to wait around. I sent them pictures showing the damage and all they could say it was slightly damaged. Damage is damage damage is damage and it’s not what I paid for so that’s your customer support

They are NOT a reputable company...they sell trees that are defective...one came with mildew...two did not make it through the first season...I took pictures and sent them a request for replacment...more pictures needed, then argument that it wasn't there fault, then finally they said they would replace them but I would have to pay shipping. Go to your local nursery and hand pick out your own trees. These people are FRAUDS.