not thrilled compared to the local big box stores which have larger container fruit trees for about the same price, less the shipping, so meh. i think the play is to purchase locally or rootstock and graft.
the lovell rootstock look nice and uniform, though:
overall im happy with the order. they answered my emails early on when i had questions and the order was well packaged for shipping. one of the persimmons might not make it but i will probably order from them again.
I ordered a aprocoit and the roots were like 3 foot long. They were gently folded so they didnt break and wrapped in wet newspaper in taped plastic bag. I was utterly astonished when i cut open the bag.
There was no way I was digging a 3 foot deep hole by hand. So I hitched up my 12 inch diameter PTO auger to my tracker and popped a hole about 3 and 1/2 foot deep. I planted that tree in under 10 minutes. I watered it in and totally healed over bud graft union sunk about 8 inches below the soil line. I grabbed the tree just below the graft union and pulled it up so the graft union was a couple of inches above the soil line. Then I backfilled the sunken hole to be even with the soil line. The apricot broke bud yesterday.
If it gets established this year, which it should have no problem soing so with those.massive roots. I will most likely have aprocoits next year.
I was totally surprised how long the roots were and the large caliper of the tree. No way you would get that in a big box container tree.
If i recall correctly, burnt Ridge is a mom and pop store and there’s only 2, maybe 3 people that work there. The man is an expert grafter or something lol. He’s also really good at rooting things too. Really nice people overall and i love how easy it is to get a hold of someone over the phone and online.
Only bad thing i can say…
The nursery is on such a steep hill super dangerous when icy or very wet conditions.
In 4 years of ordering from them i received one thing this year that was DOA. Everything else has been healthy and doing great.
The DOA thing- I emailed and one of the employees started me on the ‘policy’ deal of scratch tests, then pictures, then waiting 6 weeks. I asked the person to bring it to the attention of the owner and to let him make a decision.
The next day i received an apology along with a tracking number and all has been resolved with a new healthy tree.
I’ve had a similar experience with them, which ended up with them sending me a replacement tree the following shipping season, which was all I really wanted. that one is doing really well
I have ordered from them several times. My only worry is that I get so many emails from them before they finally ship that I think they’ve charged me twice, and if I order way early I forget I have committed funds at some random future time because they don’t actually take the payment until they ship.
To my recollection, I’ve always been satisfied with the procts and generally liked the packaging.
I’ve ordered from them for 3 years and haven’t been disappointed in any way. I appreciate how patient they are about adjusting my order when I inevitably add to it after placing it.
I had a good experience with Burnt Ridge this year as well. Ordered Lucygem and Early Pink Lady. Both were good size trees with long roots neatly folded and then wrapped safely. The root systems were better than what I usually get from other mail order nurseries.
Overall I’ve had really good luck. Trees, shrubs, berries…I usually get a little bit of everything from them each year. My Toka plum this year had very good size roots and the tree itself was about a foot taller than the box and it was folded over to fit inside without any breakage. I ordered a lot of blueberries from them last year. They were all very good size and healthy. Only issue ever- I bought a green gage a few Years back and it grew great all summer and then just abruptly died that fall. They sent me a free replacement the next year although he could not tell me what might have caused it. I like doing business with them. They’ve earned my trust.
I didn’t notice this when it was posted and would like to say that a small peach tree of the desired variety will likely give you good crops before some big box Elberta or Red Haven will of the variety you graft on them. I can see how an experienced grafter might consider this the best option, but I’m very inpatient to try a new variety for which graft wood isn’t even always available.
There is also a good chance that a container tree in a big box had its root system butchered to fit into the container and although the small root system serves the tree OK in the potting mix, it may not establish as well as a bare root tree where you are putting all the roots in the soil that must support the trees establishment.
I’ve also had mostly good experiences with Burnt Ridge in the last 20 years or so. I had one shipment of mulberries that were DOA, but things can happen during shipping out of the hands of the sender.
I agree with you. I have always tried, tried mind you, to support small businesses local and also through things like small nurseries that offer what I need and offer interesting plants and trees.
Burnt Ridge have good to me as well. Honest and also helpful with questions I have asked them. Pricing has been very good for what I want to order. Look forward to ordering more items from them. I like their catalog, it has a lot of good information in it.
Love the paper catalog too, it is always a good read. The trees I have got from them have been the same size as raintree, just usually about half the price.
Since my chances are not that great for actually harvesting any nuts, I will just wait and see what they taste like when and if I ever get any. My first trees are already over ten years old and only knee high yet.
super dangerous when icy or very wet conditions.
