Berries Unlimited Experience. Not Great!

[NewOrchardist]

Hey everyone,

New member here after reading posts here for a few months.

I’m writing my first post to give my impressions of my first order from Berries Unlimited (B.U.). I ordered a few hundred worth of honeyberries after getting very enthsiastic (over the top enthusiastic, frankly) replies from Lidia over there. I ordered a few different varieties and she told me she was going to pull “super examples” to send me…

What I received mirrored what others have said here & on other sites complaining about B.U. When I opened the box it was a sloppy mess of plants just thrown in there carelessly. I assumed that these plants would be in pots, but the majority of them where bare root and sloppily wrapped in plastic bags. ALL plants were tiny to say the least. (I just had a very similar experience with Strictly Medicinals).

Anyways, it’s now April 15th & all of these plants look really rough except a few started to get some leaves and then pretty much all of that died back. Nothing since & that was a month ago.

The bottom line is that my “opinion” is that this person REALLY talks up her company & the quality of her plants to get a sale, but what you receive are pathethic examples of plants that are way overpriced.

For those that haven’t ordered from her (and I don’t recommend you do), you are in for some nasty surprises during checkout. First she charges something like a $10.00 “handling fee” & her shipping is outrageous, especially considering the plants were all in a small box that weighed nothing. This is a clear indicator that she is marking up the shiupping to make a profit off of it, which I’m personally not cool with. I don’t have the receipt in front of me, but she charged ~50 bucks to ship 8 plants, and 6 were bare root, the other 2 in 3x3, cheap plastic pots. None of these charges pop up until the last stages of checkout by the way.There was soil spilled all over the inside of the box from the two pots spilling. The box weighed nothing, and that’s 50 bucks to ship it.

So again, expect the amount to increase a lot after she rails you for the 10 bucks + hyper-inflated shipping.

To contrast, I just got in 3 bare root fruit trees, 5’ tall, that weighed A LOT more, from the opposite end of the country, & Ithe shipping was ~30 bucks.

I also got some honeyberries from Stark, who I’m not a huge fan of (mostly because they refuse to disclose rootstocks, & they’re also overpriced) but to their credit, the plants were the same price because of free shipping & no “handling fee,” & they are 3x the size of the one’s from B.U. & they shipped for free.Those are thriving & leafing out strongly & quickly, the one’s from B.U. all look to be dead or dying.

If some or all of these plants don’t make it, I do not expect to have her handle it with grace, I expect to have her fight me on it or ignore me.

But that’s what Visa disputes are for…

[treefrog1]

I also ordered 2 honeyberry plants from them.
With the shipping charges it was $75. I was very disappointed in how small the plants were. I will not order from them again. Live and learn.

[Drew51]

Welcome to the forum! Thanks for posting I agree. I grew out two plants from BU and they barely fruit, and the fruit is small. Buy the Canadian cultivars and also the Dr. Thompson cultivars are decent plants. Most have nice size fruit. Still rather tart though.

[NewOrchardist]

Leave reviews here, Reddit, Yelp (Google, even though I’m Anti-Google), everywhere you can. It’s the only way they’ll learn!

[NewOrchardist]

Thank you brother. I modified my original post about the Stark plants. they are all Canadian & thriving. The B.U. are all dead or dying.

[evilpaul]

I put in the three Boreal UoS plants and a Strawberry Sensation (all sourced from Stark’s). They’re all growing well and covered in blooms.

(B.Blizzard, was a three inch stick, thanks to the lawn people, two years ago.)

[NewOrchardist]

Thanks for posting. Those are beautiful. My Canadian varieties are all thriving so far. The B.U. are all dead or dying…

[NewOrchardist]

Here are 3 photos comparing what I got from Stark this year vs. the trash from B.U.
Same price as Stark gave free shipping & no thieving “handling fee.”

[NewOrchardist]

[NewOrchardist]

[Drew51]

I like the thompson cultivars too. Berry size is decent. I have Maxie,
Solo, and Unknown Thompson cultivar clone from Thompson gardens.

Aurora though still rules for flavor.

[Gkight]

I ordered 4 plants from them a few years ago, the plants were fine and are doing good now. However, only 2 of the 4 were varieties I had actually ordered. I don’t tend to complain about stuff like that, just put them in the ground and chalked it up to “probably won’t order from there again”

[krismoriah]

I get my honeyberries from Bernis at HoneyberryUSA also some cherries and brambles. (i think they are wonderful people and happy to support them myself).

HoneyberryUSA - Berry bushes for sale and Pick-Your-Own (U-Pick) berries

They show pics of what you will get as well as the fruits from each one.

I have only ordered things that nobody else carries from Berries Unlimited and all did well for me…yes they were overpriced but i knew that going in.

[NewOrchardist]

Thank you.

Yes, I’ve emailed her in the past & will place my next order with Bernis.

What varieties do you recommend from her? I have the Boreal trio, S. Sensation, Aurora, Blue Banana, and these scaggy things from berries unlimited…

[elivings1]

I think I have gotten Berries Unlimited and Honeyberryusa confused on this forum before. I bought honey berry from Stark Bros and Berries Unlimited. My first impression was both died. The reality is my honey berry from berries unlimited came back stunted after 1 year and then died a death due to lack of vigor. My Stark Bros ones have come back year after year though. To edit my raspberry and blueberries I bought from there are dead too. I sent them a email with pictures and they said the raspberry had just gone through a hard summer and would perk up come next year. She denied the blueberry was from their company claiming they do not ship one that small. Well they did ship one that small and diseased. So you likely will face pushback. How likely the credit card company is to side with you I don’t know. I did not try or see. I have had companies lie about stuff when I do a chargeback. Luckily I have had proof to send in proving my side but these companies are clever that lie and wait towards the end of the 3 months to contest it hoping you have not kept evidence like receipts that long.

[NewOrchardist]

So if you want to know how shady this person is (Lidia) at berries unlimited, this is pretty much all you need to know…

I did a scrach test on all the plants. two were dead, brown to below the soil line. The others are slightly green only near the bottom & the tops are all dead. NONE of the plants she sent me are thriving at all, no leafing out at all. The one’s from Stark are all exploding with new growth, her’s are totally pathetic.

Anyways, I sent her an email of the two dead ones, & stated I was concerned they might be dead, she said she needs a closer picture, so I sent the best I could. Her reply? “those plants are alive & well, there’s nothing wrong with them.”

Now I doubt I have to tell the folks here, but you’re not going to diagnose dead or alive on potentially dormant plants from a basic picture. So I replied that I had done a scratch test to the soil, & they are dead as a door nail.

And guess what? No reply 4 days later!

[NewOrchardist]

I get it Gkight, but I’m not personally rolling over & letting her steal $300.00 of my money while she banks the cash & I get dead plants.

If I kill them, that’s one thing. If someone sends me weak, pathetic, dead or half dead plants, they need to make it right.

[Gkight]

Oh you’re in the right, I got the right amount of plants just two weren’t what I ordered but they work in my zone so I didn’t make a fuss. I hope you’re able to get the situation made correct.

[EJh]

I just got plants from edible landscaping in Virginia… Plants are huge! And very very nice. Their shipping is a bit expensive but the plants for the price are well worth it. 2 fruiting gooseberry at least 3 ft tall in 1 gal for 25 each. I’ll probably drive to their nursery at some point since they are only 3 hr away.

[Gkight]

Yeah everything I’ve gotten from them has been fantastic