sherwin dubren wrote:
julie wrote:

For the first time in my life I am buying trees, specifically fruit
and probably citrus.

Is Home Depot any good for this? There are a number of terrific
nurseries around here but it is a matter of time not money, if there
is even a difference. I am not sure. I was kind of caught by surprise
here.

How does time come into play... same time to plant stock from one
nursery or another... and of course money comes into play, who do you
think you're fooling, that's the main reason for buying anything from
big box stores, it costs less. And what surprise?!?!?

What do you all say?

You better know what you are doing because the staff at these big
box stores are less than usefel.

You had best know what you're doing before buying nursery stock
anywhere... there is no chance that the staff at any retail nursery is
more useful than at another unless one has had personal experience
with a particular staff member's expertise... except that in my
experience I've found the staff at the big box store nurseries to be
far more accomodating with schlepping and loading. I don't
necessarily rely on retail nursery worker's plant expertise, that's my
responsibility to learn prior to shopping.

In Menards today, the clerk told me that most peach trees need another
polinator, whereas apples are mostly self fertile. She got things
backwards.

She also mentioned that apples could be pollinated by pears, plums,
etc. She better go back to fruit trees 101 before she gives out
false information like that.



Why would a clerk come out of nowhere with that kind of information,
and if you already know the answers to your questions that makes you
grossly disingenuous. Your story is not believeable, it sounds like
something made up by someone with a grudge against the big box
emporiums. Plants would be labeled with planting instructions and
typically fruit tree tags list pollinating requirements. Someone with
a degree in horticulture wouldn't be schlepping plants around any
retail nursery. Anyone considering growing fruit should educate
themselves about what to plant and how before ever visiting any plant
nursery. Folks don't go to Lowes to learn horticulture anymore than
they do to learn heating and cooling... occasionally one will by pure
accident encounter an employee with expert knowlege but at the wages
paid at any retail nursery I'd not count on it... one can learn all
they need to know about fruit trees on the net. Folks shop at big box
stores to save money regardless what they buy, they should have
already armed themselves with the knowlege required for what to
choose. If one is too lazy to do research on their own they can
always go to the dedicated plant nurseries where they'll pay twice as
much and still will be just as likely to receive incorrect
information, probably more likely, becaue places that charge more are
more likely to not admit not knowing so would dispense BS instead. In
my experience the help at the big box nurseries have no more
horticultural knowlege than what anyone can read on the plant tag,
anytime I've asked a more technical question they've said I don't
know... can't get more honest. Retail plant nurseries pay little more
than minimum wage... no education is required to schlepp plants, bales
of planting medium, and watering hoses about. However the nursery
stock at either is exactly the same, comes from the same local
wholesalers/growers. Also the big box stores don't hassle folks about
returns whereas the independant nurseries typically institute all
sorts of escape clauses for not replacing plants or returning full
purchase price. Another point to consider is that the typical
independant retail nursery buys all their stock in one fell swoop in
order to take advantage of bulk discounts... that same stock sits in
what is virtually a parking lot the entire season hoping for a buyer,
it gets sun, it hopefully gets watered regularly, it gets knocked
about by folks looking, and the nicest specimens are sold right away
and not replaced... what's left doesn't go into the ground until
someone buys and plants it. Whereas the big box stores are gigantic
accounts, they get freshly dug shipments weekly, even daily. It's
pretty silly not to shop the big box nurseries first, especially for
newbies like the OP who really have no business purchasing the more
costly less common plants until they gain some experience, at least
enough experience not to need to ask the nursery help about
pollinating.

There is lots of info available about fruit trees but it's best to
research ones own area.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/pollination.html