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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Nurseries
  • Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:22:55 -0500


I'm looking for a good source for several varieties of fruit trees for fall planting. Am considering Stark Bros. Any comments on this nursery or suggestion of others (particularly in the east or midwest)?


I didn't have any trouble with Stark Bros. when I bought from them, except that they use non-standard common names for some of their varieties, so it's sometimes hard to know what you're getting. Their trees were large and, though packed poorly, they all grew very well. I was worried because the roots were dry, but they told me they use some kind of treatment on them, so that wouldn't matter. And it didn't, I guess.

You might also try Adams Co. Nursery in Pennsylvania (http://www.acnursery.com/). I bought apple trees (on a dwarfing interstem) and some pluots from them, and they were large, good-looking trees. All have grown nicely (well, I only planted the pluots this spring, so it's a bit early to tell with them).

I bought some plums from St. Lawrence Nursery (http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/) in New York. They have a lot of interesting trees, but they don't use dwarfing rootstocks. Two of the plums didn't make it (one never broke dormancy), so they sent me a couple of large replacement trees this spring. No problem, they're growing great. Unfortunately, they don't take on-line orders. You can print out the order form, but you have to send them a check.

Actually, I've been buying from a lot of different places without a serious problem. I look around the Internet for just the variety I want, so I can't buy everything from one nursery. I think you're wise to find a nursery in your part of the country, if possible, though I've bought from Oregon and even California with no problem. However, I strongly recommend that you check out any nursery at the Garden Watchdog Guide to Mail Order at the Dave's Garden website (http://davesgarden.com/gwd/). You can search by company name or zip code, and it's really nice to see what other people are saying about their experiences.

As an example, here's the Stark Bros. page: http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/189/

They have an 84% positive rating (117 positives, 15 neutrals, 23 negatives). I like to check out the negative comments, in particular. Of course, every nursery is likely to have some negatives, and unhappy customers are probably far more likely to comment than happy ones. But it gives you an idea of what you might expect (especially the more recent comments).

Good luck,

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

PS. I notice that you're planning to plant in the fall. Everyone around here told me that planting fruit trees in the fall wasn't recommended. That might just be because of our particular climate, I don't know. People plant landscape trees here in the fall, but I was told that fruit trees should be planted in the spring. I don't have a clue why. Maybe they were all wet, or maybe that's just for Nebraska. I thought I'd mention it, anyway. I did plant some fruit bushes (clove currants) in the fall, and they did OK.

--
Whenever morality is based on theology, whenever right is made dependent on divine authority, the most immoral, unjust, infamous things can be justified and established. - Ludwig Feuerbach




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