Everything I've ordered from them has survived thus far, I'd order from them again.

I've ordered twice from them. It's good quality stock (Dave Wilson Nursery trees/products). Would order again but I'm out of room!

They have to finish shipping out in Feb. so for your zone you would need to keep heeled in or in a unheated garage until your planting season starts.

It's a good company.

If you want to read reviews of these nurseries, just google "Scoop on + the name of the nursery"

For example, google Scoop on Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, their reviews by a garden watchdog will show up. Any nursery that has a lot of negative reviews, stay away from it.

I got my 3-1 fruit cocktail tree from them when my 'normal' supplier was out of stock for the year. The Dave Wilson tree ended up being a 5-1 and has grown beautifully.

I'd order from them again in a heartbeat.

Andy

Thank you all! This helps a lot, I'm glad people have ordered from them :)

Read the negative comments on DavesGarden.com and you might think twice about ordering.

http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/138/

I looked at the comments on Davesgarden (a site I like). All I can post are my results. I also know that the last comment appears to be quite old/not current. People are also more likely to post negative comments than positive ones and negative posting people tend to seek out a forum for their (often correct) perceptions of poor treatment.

I liked the tree I got and the price I paid and the service I received.

Andrew

It's hard not to conclude they have some organizational problems after reading the D.G. page.

Jbclem, Andrew, and Endothelium, thanks! It's great to have the link and input, all was very helpful... Hmm I'm still on the fence. For anyone still interested, are there any suggestions anybody has that you've had good experience with? Thanks! :-)

A lot of time, the saying " you get what you pay for" is quite accurate.

A good nursery that offers reasonable priced trees is Burntridge nursery in WA.

they trees are smaller than trees from Cummins or Adam County Nursery but the price is also cheaper.

I've used Bay Laurel (and they usually have an internet searchable coupon somewhere) for my multi graft Dave Wilson trees - Bay Laurel was out, hence my purchase from Peaceful Valley. The deer really LOVE Dave Wilson trees.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Try FEDCO Trees in Maine. Lots of heritage apple trees, also root stock. They have short shipping seasons and short order periods, however. I have had good luck with what I have gotten from them.

For a full-time commercial nursery you gotta go a ways to beat Stark Brothers and they now have acquired Miller from New York, both quality operations.

I would place all these over Peaceful Valley if only by a little. That one looks to me sorta like a ego operation, but then they are far west and south; so I haven't dealt much with them.

Thank you! I will look into those companies as well :)

My trees all came in exellent condtion and had no problem leafing out, ordered 4 more trees from them this year. I also liked that they shipped them earlier in the year, so they were still dormant.

Ordered 10 pluots pluerries, cherries, etc... from groworganic and all came well branched and in great shape. I would definately recommend.

I have another question... Is planting bare root better than from a nursery box (with soil)? I'm just a bit nervous about the prospect. Looking online, it seems a lot more complicated. My cherry, which I planted from a nursery last March/April came with soil in the pot aka not dormant. Please just let me know your opinions on bare root planting :-).

most prefer bare root because the tree establishes better in the long run as it's forced to push out into native soil. sometimes a potted tree has circled roots and the roots like to keep circling in the easy going potting soil and not venture out into harder native soil.

Had much better luck with trees getting established and thriving with bare root, however bare root season is relegated to a very short time in late winter to early spring, when trees are dormant. I think the roots set better when planted bare root, guaranteed to not have circling roots!

I think there are a few pros and cons to bare root v in a pot.

1. Bare root trees are much cheaper to ship (duh!). More importantly (to me) is that you usually get to order exactly what you want (variety/varieties, rootstock, age, etc.) vs whatever the local nursery/big box is selling.

2. Trees in pots are usually grown somewhat locally, so you will usually be sold something that will do well in your area. It has a good root system (+/-) and is already established. Since we're all going to dig out a much bigger hole, I don't think the 'native soil' issue is really an issue.

3. Bare root trees are only shipped during certain times and only can only be ordered at certain times. The multi-graft tree I wanted was sold out almost everywhere I ordered (again, a 'bespoke' Dave Wilson multigraft), so I would have had to wait a year. HD had plenty of multi-graft trees on display,

4. Tree quality. The Dave Wilson bare root I received had great, equal grafts. The Santa Rosa plum grafts on the HD trees looked like an afterthought and the branching was terrible.

take a look at the pictures as a comparison.

Andrew

I disagree with your second point. For example, retail nurseries here in San Jose will order DWN bare-root stock and pot it up right away to sell you a potted plant. They get a higher mark up for this. If it doesn't sell during bare-root season it starts to grow in the pot and can be sold all spring & summer. Has nothing to do with how successful the tree will be in your local climate. Having said that I have planted bare-root and container grown DWN trees and have had success with both, but I prefer bare root for price and long term establishment.

the roots like to keep circling in the easy going potting soil and not venture out into harder native soil

This is a myth. Roots grow away from the center of the plant unless deflected by an uncrossable barrier. When plants installed with intact potting soil root-balls or in liberally amended planting holes fail to root vigorously into unamended existing soil beyond the planting hole it is because they were in poor condition at planting time - or the potting soil and/or amendments are having an adverse effect on how water enters and exists the zone of potting soil/amending. This last phenomenon is the main cause of slow growth of transplants placed in small areas of potting soil/soil amendments surrounded by different soils.

Typically specimens surviving the initial situation grow markedly faster once they manage to root into the unmodified soils beyond the amended planting hole.

That's interesting. My soil is mostly clay, and I didn't mix it with anything to aerate it or add nutrients at all, but it's been a year and the cherry tree is fine. It came with nursery box soil a few inches across (we pulled out a small tree to plant this one, maybe that helped??).

I think how you did the hole and the condition of the roots in the pots has a big effect on the planting. If you dig the hole the same size as the potted plant with shear sides, and the roots in the pot are root bound, the roots will continue to grow in a circle. If you dig the hole bigger and with irregular sides, I think there is less effect. I do cut down about 1/4 inch deep in 4 or 5 places to cut any circular roots.

I have ordered from Peace Valley before. The roots are pruned hard, more than I like but the trees did ok. I don't like the Citation root stock. The root stock is not well adapted to peaches. The roots on the peach trees never really grew. Did not have that problem on the plums. In my area we need good vigor due to all the disease pressure.

NEVER again ... I will never order from them again. When a notification came that the package had been delivered, it had not. I wrote and called and was told that I should go to my neighbors and ask if they had it! Then I was told to get in touch with the post office. Accept responsibility? No, they did not.