North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

Ward, as an amateur with more fruit-tree ambitions than space to plant,
and a local mega-box store that sometimes sells trees, I'm curious:

How could you tell they were bare root put in a pot (without taking them
out, that is)?

What's wrong with redwood mulch?  Is there a problem with wood-chip
mulch in general?

How could you tell the rootstock was standard?  Given that the name and
the description disagreed, why did you chose to trust the name?  (Of
course, if it was planted several inches below the graft, I guess the
rootstock won't matter all that much.)

Thanks,

Ginda Fisher
zone 6

Raspberries coming in nicely this year  :)

Ward Barnes wrote:
> 
> 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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