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Home Depot trees
brooklyn1 wrote:
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. What do you all say? I can relate one experience of mine. Two years ago, I purchased what was labeled as a Belle of Georgia Peach. It soon developed fruit, but the flesh was yellow, instead of white. My guess is that it is a Elberta Peach. Out of curiosity, I tried to trace this tree from Home Depot. It seems like this tree went through about two or three levels before Home Depot sold it. The exact identity of the tree could not be verified. It is a healthy tree, just not what I was expecting. True, you can get some bargains at Home Depot and other big box stores, but be aware of the risks involved. That was probably the last tree I will purchase from a big box. When I was first getting into growing fruit, I purchased five trees from Frank's Nursery, who went out of business in my area. A few of them survived, but some grew larger than I wanted. As I got more into fruit trees, I discovered the best and most reliable trees were orderable on the internet as young whips. These trees grow rapidly and catch up in a year or two to the ones you see sold in local nurseries and big box stores. There are several good suppliers, like Raintree Nursery and Tree's of Antiquity out there. The advantage of ordering from them is they carry many uncommon varieties not found locally. They grow their own trees, with no middle men involved. You can be almost certain that the better ones of these nurseries are accurate on the rootstock (determines final size of the tree). If you were expecting a tree to grow to 10 or so feet, you won't be surprised when it grows many feet higher. I grow mostly semi-dwarfs on rootstock like Bud 9 that produces apple trees about 12 feet high. If I had to do it over again, I would have bought the very small trees on M27 that grow about 6 feet tall. You don't get as much fruit on a dwarf, but maintenance is much easier, and the trees yield fruit sooner than a full size tree. There are some nurseries that I avoid simply because they do not specify their rootstock, just calling it a dwarf of semi-dwarf. Starks and Millers are two of these that come to mind. They plant their own stock, but on an assembly line basis, so they cannot track each tree. If you want to grow some unusual and very tasty fruit that you can't find in your supermarket, look at these heritage fruits. Visit a fruit fair in your area where you can taste these unusual fruits and be sure to pick one that is compatible with your climate zone. You are correct on all points except for the elements of time and space. Trees are not like buying a TV that you bring home and it instantly operates to its full capacity, trees require years to mature. I've purchased mail order "whips" and they definitely don't begin producing within two years, they require more like 5-6 years for first fruit That may be true for a tree on standard rootstock, but not so for dwarfs. I have had vigorous dwarf whips produce fruit the next year after planting. Five to six years is way too long for a dwarf tree to fruit, unless the scion and the rootstock is not vigorous. Of the some 10 odd trees I received as whips on dwarf rootstcck, none of them took longer than two or three years to give fruit. Admittedly, this first fruiting is very limited to a handful, and I would recommend they be removed before they grow large so that the tree puts it's energy into the roots, where it is most needed on these young dwarf trees. .... and still there is no gaurantee they'll be true to form, Exactly the point of my previous message. If you want to be reasonably assured of getting a true to species that you ordered, you have to find a nursery you can trust. I have not found any of my local nurseries in the Chicago area to fill this bill. They just buy a load of trees from wherever, and they generally don't know the first thing about raising fruit trees, bushes and flowers, yes. That's why I only buy from nurseries out of state that firstly specify their rootstock type ( a good sign) and those recommended by my fruit growing friends. they can easily get switched in the shipping departments... and the trees from independant nurseries are just as likely to be mislabled as from the big boxes, since they all come from the same local grower-wholesalers and probably get shipped here, there, and everywhere before sold to the public. And with bare root trees my experience is that about 1/4 don't make it... sure they will be replaced but one loses an entire year before they'll reship... and shipping costs for barestock whips is typically more than the plant is worth. Ppotted/balled and burlapped saplings have a far higher success rate (I havent lost one yet). Here I disagree with you again. A larger tree is much less likely to succeed in transplanting. More likely than the nursery cut off too many roots to squeeze it into a pot or burlap ball. They also have a harder time adapting to the surrounding soil. These larger trees are for impatient people who want instantaneous results. In fact, these whips do not take long to catch up with their larger planted counterparts. And then there is the element of space for planting. If one has plenty of land to put into orchard and intends to make a major operation of growing fruit The majority of people on gardening forums like this are hobbiests, so large trees just become a big maintenance headache. If they are working in a backyard, this limits the number of varieties they can plant. then the best route is to buy mature rooted trees from an area grower wholesaler/retailer... they will cost about double and triple than from an independant and big box... but at least you will have a mature plant that is true to form and is probably already fruiting. But for someone with a small property who is intending to have 2-6 trees then I recommend they get started with a couple of potted trees from a big box, to learn how to care for fruit trees and have time to decide what they really want to plant in limited space. I also recommend dwarf trees. My neighbor planted almost all standard trees about 5 years ago and many have not fruited and they are growing too big. I advised him then to plant dwarfs, and now he tells me he regrets not listening to me. If one has the space and wants they can purchase an assortment of bare root whips and plant in pots and then heel in, leave them for a couple of years until they know which survive (arrange for replacement) and decide where to plant. From reading the OP it doesn't sound like someone who will be planting an orchard, and says money is no object... then I would recommend forgoing the big box, the independants, and the mail order bare root, and go directly to a local grower and buy more mature specimens.. I suggest purchasing nursery stock as locally as possible to ensure similar growing conditions... mail order can be from thousands of miles away. If you are happy with Red Delicious, etc., those are the common varieties they carry. These kinds of 'supermarket' apples are not the best tasting, and why bother when you can buy them in the store. There are literally hundreds of good tasting apples, like Thomas Jefferson's favorite, Esopus Spitzenburg, for which scion wood or ready made whips are available. A grower is a much different operation from a plant nursery. Growers do their own grafting, have many acres planted with stock in various stages. Some will have a retail section... they are typically listed in the phone book. In my location I shop these two: http://www.storysnursery.com/ These guys have a good selection of fruit trees, but absolutely no mention of rootstocks provided, so I assume they are all on standard rootstock. http://www.schoharienurseries.com/index.htm This nursery also has a good selection of fruit trees and they do describe how dwarf trees behave, but their catalog does not indicate which trees are available on which rootstocks, or even if they sell dwarf trees. Both are about an hours drive away in different directions so when I go I plan to spend a relaxing day strolling the acreage. I'm on their email list and so several times a year I'm notified of sales. Both maintain an amazing array of plants, many of which one never finds at nurseries... plants purchased by lanscapers for large estate jobs, but often available retail too... sometimes advance notice is needed and they will notifiy when the plant chosen is dug from the field and ready for pick up... I bought my blueberry bushes that way and got a fantastic deal compared to anywhere else. I almost bought my blueberries on line, what a mistake that would have been as they charge the credit card long before they ship, and their shipping charges are outrageous... I recommend no one buy blueberry bushes sight unseen, you can end up with 1-2 year old twigs, many of which probably won't survive, and you'll pay as much if not more than I did, $15 for 8 year old shrubs balled and burlapped filling 5 gallon pots, already producing. To sum up, one has to do their homework when buying a tree, just like you check out a new car for horsepower, gas mileage, etc. Once you plant that tree, you may have the painful task of ripping it out because it is too big, or is the wrong variety. Brooklyn1 is correct about checking the pollination requirements, as some trees require a 'companion' variety to produce fruit. Caveat Emptor, Sherwin |
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