Good morning,
I’m back with another question. What are your guys’ go to fruit tree websites? My local fruit tree nursery has quite a few cultivars to pick from, but I have to order ahead of time (which I did). He does not have quite a few trees I’m looking for, like dessert pears and red fleshed varieties of apples and pears. He doesn’t have any odd trees as well, like medlar, quince, honey berries, ect. I’m just looking for more options to choose from sourced from accredited nurseries or nurseries you guys recommend. I appreciate it! So far I have looked at Raintree nursery, green world and a couple others, but some sites do not really have things in stock. I know why, but I also don’t want to preorder for spring and get a cultivar that is not true to name or a bad tree that will not make it.
I have ordered from just about every nursery that is listed on this site and more.
Pears and Apples- hard to beat Mehrabyan Nursery, Fedco, Cummins, Adams County Nursery etc.
Honeyberries- HoneyberryUSA is tops for me.
Raintree, OGW, BayLaurel, Grow Organic etc… are great for Dave Wilson stuff.
Having said that… i really liked what i got from Century Farms… so put that on your browse list as well.
https://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/descripts/osadescripts.html
Im omitting lots of other great nurseries as you probably dont want hundreds of trees… but other than staying away from TyTy, Willis and to some extent Isons… there are alot of great nurseries to choose from and ive been more than happy with them.
There are catalog only places too like Cumberland Valley Nursery, Schlabachs, Vaughn. All talked about on here alot…
Thank you guys! I will look into these. The funny thing is I pretty much got all my new trees from slabachs because an Amish guy I go to orders from them. This year I grabbed what he had on hand but wanted a few other varieties they offered so I had to preorder. I appreciate it!
I work for Raintree for the last 5 years and while we do get some items from Dave Wilson (things that don’t grow well in Western WA) we mostly source our grafted trees from Biringer Farm, who has been contracted to grow our trees for the last 50 years. Some of our grafted trees are also from Whitman Farm, which is another PNW grower.
These are our growers for decades, that do a great job of growing out the heritage varieties that have survived and produced for hundreds of years. We have a few new varieties, but most are international cultivars that are proven producers.
Our growers follow strict WA St. Dept. Of Ag. standards. Our state makes a lot of money on agricultural products, and they don’t mess around.
I have heard good things about Raintree Nursery and I appreciate the input! One more question…Best plum, apricot, peach, and pear cultivars? I have my apple research ongoing and have chosen about ten new varieties I want. Also Asian pear varieties that work in zone 5b/6a? I like the odd colored and unique varieties. Any reference posts on these. Once again you guys are awesome!
I would caution against using Raintree - I used to shop there a lot and many of my plants are from them but at a certain point their shipping deteriorated to the point of being abysmal. Now I only use them if I absolutely cannot source the plants elsewhere. The quality became very spotty too - one time you’ll get a nice healthy plant, another time you’ll get something on the verge of dying. (and yes, I am very sour about them)
I would agree to stay clear of Raintree. They have gone the way of Stark Bros. Low quality, high prices.
Also agree with @krismoriah as to the apple and pear list except maybe keep an eye on Mehrabyan Nursery they like to worm their way out of honoring advertised sale/shipping charges.
Raintree doesn’t answer the phone or return emails. Plants are nearly dead when they arrive in the mail and have had aphids the last two years.
Ison’s sent me two mislabeled trees out of an order of 3 trees. Found out this year when they finally fruited after 3 years. Contacted them a few months ago and they offered me a refund or replacement. I opted for a refund and they said they mailed it to me but I still haven’t received it. Subsequent follow up for status has been ignored.
Willis is another I won’t buy from again. Out of the 7 plants I got from them, 5 died the first year and 1 was mislabeled. Not sure if the last tree is really a Santa Rosa plum or not since it hasn’t fruited yet.
I actually have good luck with Stark Bros trees, their bare root trees were decently priced when on sale and grew well for me.
My single order from Rain Tree was an expensive bare root HJ jujube that died the first year, but they offered credit and the subsequent potted trees were healthier and doing ok.
Made this thread a few years ago and some of the ratings have changed since then. Some went up, while others went down, but most are correct. Since then I’ve ordered from more places, but the thread is to old to make changes.