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Home Depot trees
On Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:03:38 -0500, sherwin dubren
wrote: brooklyn1 wrote: sherwin dubren wrote: 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. A lot depends on the grower, some will cheat by digging a small root ball, others will give an adequate ball. More mature trees (and plants in general) benefit from root pruning. I purchased large trees with root balls much too heavy for me to haul home let alone plant, I paid to have that done... all did very well. 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. No arguement there... I think I covered that in my next section. 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. When I say a mature tree I mean one about 5-7 years old, not some gnarly ancient. All transplants suffer shock, but in the end a young mature fruit tree will do better than a bare root "whip"... and I'd much rather have a plant that was grown locally than one from here, there, everywhere, and many states away. I've purchased those mail order bare root "whips" and some did well but others died, they were replaced but a year later... it wasn't worth all the planning, preparing a piece of ground, anticipating arrival, the disapointment of opening the large box and seeing a twig no larger than a strand of pasta but still planting it, and then the disappointment when it never leafs out. No thank you... I'll buy plants I can see growing. The balled/potted fruit saplings one finds at the big box and most nurseries are a good choice, but then being retired I didn't want to wait longer than necesary so I opted for something a bit larger... so a persons age has a lot to do with choosing nursery stock. Those mail order whips I think are no bargain, they cost more and with shipping one can buy two growing plants at Home Depot. 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. Dwarf fruit trees are rather small, they grow perhaps to 8" ht and 6" wd, are fine for those who have limited space but since I have space I prefer semi dwarf (they grow 12'-15' tall and as wide), they are very manageable with a small step ladder and pole pruner. I also need trees that grow taller because deer would make salad of dwarfs unless I kept them fenced forever. With semi dwarfs I keep them fenced until I can prune them to begin branching at about five feet, at that point I can remove the fence and the deer will keep them pruned fastidiously to five feet. If ever you pass a large orchard you will notice how all the tree's lower branches are the same height, deer do that with all trees/shrubs they browse. 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. These growers don't sell on line or from catalog. They are primarily wholesale growers (they only sell what they themselves grow) and only keep a web site for advertising their retail business to the locals, which I readily admit is not much of a web site, and it's listings are probably not up to date. If one has specific questions they will be happy to answer. I have found all the personel quite knowlegeable and helpful... they will help you choose, insist upon loading your plants and covering them so they will be protectected from wind damage on the trip home. And in fact their main location is only a very small part of the operation, they own many hundreds of acres of planting fields and greenhouses at other nearby locations that the public is not permitted to browse. It's really only the mail order and on line sellers who maintain fancy schmancy web sites with all manner of hype... but it's rare they grow any of their own stock. Those "whips' and tiny plants are shipped from many private growers scattered about in states where land is cheap and ordinary folks do it as a cottage industry... those companys only handle the paperwork, their mail order plant business has no more to do with growing than Sears has to do with manufacturing clothes washers. Didn't you notice how all their pictures are of perfect plants that one can never achieve in reality... ain't photoshop grand. |
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