North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Ward Barnes" <ward_p_barnes@hotmail.com>]

>
>I have to agree regarding the "masses".  After running a web site that 
>contained a 20 question poll, and getting thousands of responses, my 
>general opinion of the masses has dropped significantly, and I can easily 
>see why con men, and snake oil salesmen are so successful. (just too honest 
>to take advantage of that fact)

Tom:

While I am far from an "expert" on fruit trees, I do have one tale to tell 
about the general public being ripped off.

I visited one of the local mega-box stores that sell everything from lawn 
mowers to swimming pools and seemingly every type of building material made. 
  They also have a "nursery" department that had a sell on 'fruit trees'.  I 
looked at some of the apple trees and found that...

1.  They were listed as dwarf.  (They were standard).

2.  They were listed as pot grown.  (They were bare root put in a pot).

3.  They were placed in the pot several inches below the graft.

4.  The store had covered the dirt in redwood mulch leading the public
    to the idea that that is what should be done.

5.  The variety was a good one for zone 4.  (We are in zone 7).

6.  The root stock listed on the tag was generic.  I looked it up and
    found at least 8 different root stocks listed under that name.
    (None dwarfing).

Not finding a "manager" available I wrote a letter to the store home
office letting them know what a disservice they were doing to their
customers.  I never received a reply and I have never been back.

Ward Barnes
Coastal Zone 7
Wake, VA.




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