I have found a few ‘deals’ so far… and i have found out that if i dont jump on them early they will be gone. I figured these to be good deals because i dont have to pay $10-$30 for shipping…
Tractor Supply- Redhaven Peach Tree- $14 Nanking Cherry- $8 They also had Plum Trees, Apple Trees for same price. I saw Aronia for $8 along with some other shrubs that i wasnt interested in or already had. I think they had grapes too.
Walmart- Has Blackberry and Raspberry canes for about $7 each. Also some nice Grapes for the same price. Out front they had all kinds of Roses. I picked up 4 different climbing roses for $8 each. The canes were about 2 inches thick…
Lowes- They have the same rack as Walmart that has Blackberry/Raspberry and Grapes for about the same price. Varieties were Ouachita, Ebony King, Jewel and Heritage…i think i saw Coho and a couple of others.
Home Depot- no deals there yet.
Rural King- They have all kinds of fruit trees that are massive for $29 each. Too many to list.
Menards- They had pro-mix two bales for $30… no plants in yet…
Haven’t checked 'em all out, but the big blue box has $199.00 5 gallon potted trees and $33 3-gallon azaleas … not exactly bargains. Nor are $34 fruit trees in the same old 5 varieties.
It’s only a good deal if the roots are good. Often those cheap trees were field grown to attain good size and then harvested with the roots cut back to the point that there are often no feeder roots left. This results in trees that can take years before healthy growth resumes again (if ever).
Agreed that trimming for top/root balance will improve the situation, but that results in a smaller tree that no longer seems such a good deal in terms of size for the price. The “good deal” was the incentive to buy in the first place. Better to just get something already with good root/top ratios and lots of feeder roots still attached.
The Tractor Supply peach trees were marked down to $12.74 at my location today. I have peach scions from @dpps but was not able to find rootstocks anywhere. The tree I got (DeGroot brand) has healthy-looking plump buds on the leader and a 1/4” diameter main scaffold, so hopefully it will serve as my rootstock.
Costco always has cheap trees under 20 dollars. Issue is you have to go with the basic varieties. It is honey crisp or another kind of apple and you need both, rainier or bing cherry trees and you need both for pollination, I think they have one variety of almond. Also shipping goes down once you buy more than one tree and shipping can be free depending on store and timing. I bought two Zestar! apple trees and earliglow strawberries from Stark bros and it was free shipping because shipping was free after 99 dollars which is easy to do with fruit trees. Even if it is 30-40 dollars to ship many online nursery keep that price for 3+ tree. My shipping was 37 dollars at Trees of Antquity but it was the same for 1 tree or the 3 trees I got. This means it is around 11 or 12 dollars with the 3 trees or 37 for 1 tree.
Interesting… I made this purchase without ever hearing of deGroot before. At least it is not “sight unseen,” since I was able to inspect the tree before buying it - most limbs nicely green with plump buds, not at all a dried-out stick. Maybe I’ll be sorry, but I have the scions in hand, and NEED a rootstock to use them. We’ll see… and oh, yeah, no shipping charge.
My experience with big box stores is that if you happen to get an adapted tree with a suitable rootstock for your area it’s pure happenstance.
They always seem to have “Dorset Golden” a Bahamian apple completely unsuitable for my Rocky Mountain location for example.
By all means keep your eyes open if you happen to be there and be knowledgeable. Expecting something to be suitable just because it’s sold in your area is a mistake.
I passed on coral on g12 last year at costco, still kicking myself for that. ours usually has at least a few adapted things on nice rootstocks, maybe 10-20% of what they put out
I kinda just assumed baker creek always had free shipping. I don’t think I have ever paid for shipping with them. Free shipping and a free seed packet with 3 seed packets or just free shipping on 1 or 2 seed packets can’t be beat.
In my area Louisville Kentucky nothing is on sale in fact everything is higher this year. Blackberry and raspberries at least $15 blueberries from $15 to 29.99.
Pretty much everything gardening is higher now to be honest. It is supply and demand. Raintree Nursery used to sell cherries and pears for 30 dollars now they are 60. While the other suppliers I have bought from do not have the same price increase as Raintree Nursery they have still had a increase in prices. According to some nursery owners I have talked to on social media there has been such a push for things like trees it is harder for them to get the trees and thus the cost has been brought to the consumer. They also said they don’t expect the scarcity to go away anytime soon so expect higher prices as time goes on. At least for me the first things I would not pay 15 dollars for a raspberry. You are way overpaying at that price. Places like Double a Vineyards, Indiana berry and Nourse farms will charge a fraction of that amount for a raspberry or raspberry. Last I checked Indiana berry charges 10 dollars shipping and it is only a few dollars per raspberry or blackberry so even with 1 you would about break even. I have found many locally owned nurseries charge more as many can state buy local even though their jobs pay jack all in many cases. Here in Colorado Echtors Nursery will pay 12 dollars for seasonal workers but charge 120+ dollars a tree and people will pay for it because it is local.
Luckily I’ve done the majority of my planting the last for years of the previous administration. Those prices I mentioned were at the two big box stores. I’ve also learned to be patient and shop at the end of the season unless I find something I can’t live without.
I would say hyper inflation is going to happen whenever you give away money like the previous and current administration did. I think in 2020 there was a 1400 dollar check and a 600 dollar check that went to anyone who was filed as single or married. That totals 2000 dollars given to most American adults with the exception of those going to college and under 24. Issue I have found is by the end of the season things are sold out so you are getting the unwanted scraps. Even with local nurseries selling trees at 120+ dollars opposed to the 30-60 online my local gardening nurseries were sold out of fruit trees by June and did not get more in for the season. I did not check what my local Home Depot is selling raspberries and blackberries for. I just know you can get them for around the same price or cheaper at the online nurseries I mentioned. Of course potted equals more money. Was the stores you looked at selling potted raspberries and blackberries? Stark bros sells 25 bareroot earliglow for 20 dollars but 1 potted plant for 18 or 19 dollars. Of course in 10 years or more our prices now will seem silly. I was reading posts back in 2007 or 2010 about tree prices. Back then people were talking about 10 dollars for a bare root fruit tree as a lot. Now like I said the bare minimum is 28 dollars with most being in the 30 dollar range. Keep in mind that was only around 14 years ago.It is why people say you go with a 30 year fixed mortgage. It will be a pain to pat the mortgage at first but towards the end the amount will be a joke because of inflation.
I have noticed some good deals at the big box stores once they sell most of the trees OR it gets later in the season. The only issue I have is normally they never say what rootstock they are on.
In fact the fruit trees I have seen at Whole Foods just say " apple" “pear”, " cherry".