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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Superior plum

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  • From: Steve <sdw12986@aol.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Superior plum
  • Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:41:46 -0500



Mark Angermayer wrote:
Could I get some assistance? I'd like to order a Pixie Crunch apple, and
Henry Fields/Gurneys carries it. I know they're not the best nursery to
order from, but I believe Pixie Crunch has pretty tight licensing and
forbids most nurseries from propagating it. Since Henry Fields currently
has "buy $25, get $25 free" I was also thinking about getting a Superior
plum.

Trouble is they call their plum, "Hybrid Superior plum." I'm wondering if
this is something different than Superior plum? I wouldn't normally be so
suspicious, but these companies are bad to rename stuff. Gurney's
(basically the same company) shows a Superior plum and the picture looks a
little different. I called Henry Fields but the lady I spoke with really
didn't have a clue. Anybody familiar with this plum that wouldn't mind
taking a look at the link and tell me if it looks like a real Superior plum?

http://henryfields.com/product.asp?pn=08443


Thanks,
Mark
KS

Hi Mark. I had a hard time locating your original post. I was seeing replies and it took me a while to locate your original, because it was listed under a different subject that I hadn't read yet. Do you post here by replying to the last message you read, then change the subject? I think my mail program files it under the original subject, even though you changed the subject line. (Placing the NAFEX address in your address book would make it easy to start a new thread instead continuing one that isn't related.)

Anyway.... I'm not sure if I would buy from Henry Fields or Gurneys. Many years ago, I bought a Northstar cherry from Gurneys. I planted it even though it looked dried out. It never even tried to leaf out. I called and they were very happy to send another to me... next spring. The new one came and looked quite dead also. I got my money back for the tree but I lost 2 years. At that point, I bought one from a "real" nursery and it grew perfectly, as it should.

I believe I ordered from Henry Fields but I can't remember what it was, so probably not a tree. I hear the stories about a worker trying to fill an order and changing a tag to make life easier for him, just to get it completed. No idea how common or rare this might be. I don't think that is likely to happen with a dedicated fruit nursery where the owner takes pride in his product and is right there and watching what the help does.

Pictures... When I started getting fruit... apples, plums, grapes, whatever... I would look through catalogs and notice the pictures look nothing like the real fruit. I remember looking at a Gurneys catalog and realizing they just have pretty pictures mixed in with the item descriptions. The public gets attracted to a picture, reads the description next to it and believes that is what their fruit will look like. There might be 6 pictures and 8 descriptions with no indication of which goes with what. (I haven't looked at their catalog in years but I bet it is the same.) It's a little harder to imagine that they would do that on their web site with one picture obviously going with one description. From what I see, I believe they are still doing that, even on the web pages.

Steve




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