# Fruit tree nurseries?



## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

Hey ya'll, I'm helping a friend who's trying to start a small backyard orchard (mostly apples & pears)...any recommendations on nurseries? The ones locally suck. I've been looking online at Arbor Day & Stark Bros. Any others I should know about, or any good/bad experiences to share?


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## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

I have gotten the 'ten free trees with yearly donation' from the arbor day foundation in NE and they arrive about 6" long and smaller around than a twig on my lawn. Makes me angry. Haven't purchased trees from them.


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## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

lazydaisy67 said:


> I have gotten the 'ten free trees with yearly donation' from the arbor day foundation in NE and they arrive about 6" long and smaller around than a twig on my lawn. Makes me angry. Haven't purchased trees from them.


Yeah, I've seen where it says the plants are "bare root"...that leads me to believe I get short little twig wrapped in wet paper towel.  I'd rather pay extra & get a root ball with an actual tree attached to it...


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## bacpacker (Jul 15, 2011)

I have been putting out fruit trees for the last 3 years. I got them from Stark Bros online. After having got some from local places and having no luck, I went with Stark's and have been well pleased. The trees come bare root, but have a very well developed root sytem. I lost 2 trees due to drought my first year with them and they replaced them free of charge. I expect to start getting some fruit in the next year or two.


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## mojo4 (Feb 19, 2012)

I bought 4 from costco and all have taken root. They are about 4 foot tall. They only sell in the spring though. Almost got fruit this year but hail ruined it.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

st Lawrence Nurseries, www.sln.potsdam.ny.us
has fruit trees hardy to -50 or more. although selection are limited, (they do not do dwarf trees, for example, as they do not survive hard winters well) they carry plenty of fruit and nut trees that are extremely hardy. in our climate-changing world, i want a tree to be as hardy as possible! i don't mind they don't carry peaches, they have plenty of other good things! (apples, pears, cherries, nuts, blueberries, saskatoons, highbush cranberries and other edible landscape plants, etc)


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

You don't say where you are located. I have been pleased with Stark Bros and Rio Grande nursery here in TX for citrus (http://rgvnursery.com/).


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## PrepN4Good (Dec 23, 2011)

We're in NC. Don't laugh, I've gotten pear, apple, & peach trees from Home Depot; none have died _yet_.  I've already gotten pears & peaches, but I think I need another apple variety to get my 2 to pollinate. Or something.

Any thoughts about "regular" vs dwarf? I planted dwarf b/c I had such a small spot to plant them....


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## SlobberToofTigger (Dec 27, 2011)

I have been planting about $1,000 worth of fruit and nut trees each year for the last five years. My two favorites are StarkBros and Willisorchards. I have also used arbor day foundation and found that the trees you order are substantially different from the ones you get for free. I occasionally make local purchases as well and those trees do quite well. The drought we had this year hurt me substantially and it will be mid next year before I know what made it and what did not.

As for size of trees I mostly plant full sized trees. But since I am human and want instant gratification I have planted dwarf right around the house so I get fruit sooner than later.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

PrepN4Good said:


> Any thoughts about "regular" vs dwarf? I planted dwarf b/c I had such a small spot to plant them....


Realize that dwarf will produce fruit sooner than semi-dwarf, and semi-dwarf will produce sooner than standards. It depends on your time-frame preferences. For me, I want the fruit sooner, and I'd rather plant a couple different varieties of dwarf in the same space that it would take me to plant one standard. Just my 2 cents.


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

SlobberToofTigger said:


> I have also used arbor day foundation and found that the trees you order are substantially different from the ones you get for free.


Very true. The purchased trees are much more substantial than the free trees. They aren't as substantial as what you could get at Stark Bro.'s, but their price also reflects that. So the arbor day foundation is an option.

I've actually done very well with trees from Lowe's. And Meijer - but you have to get the Meijer stuff in the spring, and pick over to get the good stuff. They don't take care of the trees during the summer, so by the time it goes on sale in the fall, there's nothing worth getting. (At least, that's been my experience.) Lowe's gets trees in the spring, and gets trees again in the fall. I've had great luck with getting trees 50-75% off at the end of the fall season, and they've done well in our yard. The downside is that if you wait for them to knock down the price, sure enough someone will come along and buy the tree you want. 

As for mail-order, we've done Stark Bro.s and Gurney's. I definitely prefer Stark. They have a great variety and really know what they're doing, but they are pricier. Their 'supreme' category of trees are older and more established, which is good, but they are just as susceptible to bugs and fungus as the cheaper trees once you get them home.

Tree planting has become an obsession for me. We now have an orchard of 36 dwarf and semi dwarf (apple, pear, cherry, plum), plus some paw paws, and some nut trees, and just this morning I was looking online for more nuts. Probably going to go with Stark again.


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## SlobberToofTigger (Dec 27, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> Tree planting has become an obsession for me. We now have an orchard of 36 dwarf and semi dwarf (apple, pear, cherry, plum), plus some paw paws, and some nut trees, and just this morning I was looking online for more nuts. Probably going to go with Stark again.


I understand the obsession! If you grab some of the larger Hazelnuts from Willis you can have nuts in a year...

http://www.willisorchards.com/product/American+Filbert+Tree?category=278

I have some pecan trees I planted seven years ago and I will be lucky if I see nuts in another seven years. But with the larger hazelnuts from Willis I will have nuts very quickly!


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## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

Thanks, Slobbertoof! I've looked over Willis' stuff and have them bookmarked, but have never ordered from them. Good to know that you have, and that you would recommend them.


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## SlobberToofTigger (Dec 27, 2011)

goshengirl said:


> Thanks, Slobbertoof! I've looked over Willis' stuff and have them bookmarked, but have never ordered from them. Good to know that you have, and that you would recommend them.


If you are used to StarkBros you will be a bit surprised. The Willis bare root trees have equally as many roots, if not more, but the tops of the trees receive very little in the way of pruning. I actually liked the minimum pruning from Willis so that I could prune the trees myself.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

My experience with bare root stock has been good. I did get trees with attached pot a couple of times and the pot had come loose in transit and ripped the roots off the tree.


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