Costco Trees

I haven’t seen any yet either. Last time I was there was about 1.5 weeks ago though.

Here’s a pic of the trees this spring. Both are flowering, but Snack Time seems to have a heavier bloom.

Snack Time:

Pink Diamond:

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Bob,
Is this the first year they flower?

I haven’t seen any this year. They had them late spring last year. Here is a Harko from Costo 2019.

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I had just planted them last spring, so I didn’t really take note on any flowers. Maybe a handful at most. But, I wouldn’t expect them to produce right after planting.

Both trees are now between 6 and 7 feet tall. Not a bad height, but I’m guessing I’ll need to start pruning them soon to keep things in reach.

@BobVance,
Mine has grown so tall so fast when I forgot to prune when I should.

@danzeb - the density of your Harko flowers are amazing!! Had it fruited last year?

I have a feeling that Costco may skip selling fruit trees this year. In previous years, their trees were for sale in March. This is almost May, I hope they will offer them next year.

We had a smaller number this year than we usually have for smaller trees. They went quickly. However, Costco later brings out large trees around the beginning of May here, so stay tuned!

Costco here had fruit trees for sale a while ago and only for a very short time. There blueberries were here longer than fruit trees

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It had a few that the squirrels took.

Things are changing. I just found out that the flower department at our local grocery chain store starts to sale 3 gallon size flowering plants, not bouquet of cutting flowers and small plants anymore

This is my September Free nectarine from Costco, bought the same year as your Harko, 2019. It was in pot until last fall. It gave me a few nice fruit, very deep orange flesh. I hope it will produce even better quality fruit in-ground.

I don’t think Costco got top-of-the-line nectarines from Burchell (not at $15.99 a tree) but even that, my two produced very tasty fruit. Wonder what top of the line Burchell nectarines will taste like. Need to wait for @BobVance to report.

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@IL847 ,
Yup. I think the pandemic has forced business have to adapt and be creative.

I have noticed businesses that used to sell a lot of flowering plants and fruit trees like Ace Hardware, Ocean State Job Lot, etc. offer fewer quantities this year.

But Home Depot offers more varieties. Last year I saw large fig trees for sale. This year, I saw dwarf peach trees.

I’ve also seen multi-grafts at HD. Both apple and plums. Some of the plum trees were pretty big- more than you’d get through the mail.

I looked back at my post from last year and I got the trees around Aprix 16th. So I should visit Costco to see if they have more…

Maybe I didn’t save as much roots on the seedling, but it din’t grow quite as much (maybe 5’ tall) as the Costco trees. It also doesn’t have any flowers, so I’ll need to wait at least another year. It also could be that it takes seedlings longer to come into bearing than grafted trees…

Both of mine were bought in April of 2018 and 2019.

Last year, my husband and his friend went to Costco in NH. They had fruit trees for sale in March!! I did not find any one I was interested in so I did place my order :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

W
He and his friend will be at Costco again this Tuesday. Hope there are some interesting trees.

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I went to Costco today and spoke with several employees, who eventually directed me to a gentleman who had more details. He said that availability has been an issue this year, and he doesn’t anticipate being able to get any fruit trees, other a few cherries which sold quickly.

According to him, plants in general are selling quickly. What would normally be a week’s inventory sells out in 2 days. I’m not sure if it is the same situation at other Costcos, or just in Norwalk.

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Thanks, Bob. Lots more people are into gardening these days. No wonder fruit trees sell out quickly esp, when supplies are low.

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I stopped by a grocery store (Stew Leonards) today which had a large selection. They had at least 6 kinds of apples, a few stonefruit (peach, nectarine, and cherries), blueberries, and even a some figs. The figs were what interested me the most, but I held off. Two kinds of figs- Peters Honey (yellow) and Little Miss Figgy (great name). I think that the reason they still have inventory is the price. The trees are $60, the figs are $40 and the blueberries (maybe 2 gal pots) are $27 (or $25 if you get 2).

How big is a $40 fig plant? Home Depot had a 4 ft tall fig last year. It was about that price or higher. It is Black Mission. Not sure how well it will grow here.

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All plants business has increased a lot, also here in Europe. I’ve heard on the news that garden centers and general stores never sold so many houseplants and garden plants and trees like in this last year. Effects off the pandemic and people staying at home they say

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My neighbors let me know about $5.99 blueberries at the Job Lot. Looked like decent plants for the price. We went to look a couple days later and they were all gone!

The local Hannaford supermarket had really nice looking apple and peach trees for $19! 2 gallon pots, 4-5’ tall, 1/2" - 3/4" caliper. The pots were well filled out without being root bound. McIntosh apples and two peach varieties I hadn’t heard of (Pink Princess and Red Skin). No word on the rootstock, but I’m guessing m111 and lovewell given the sizes stated on the tag. No idea how anyone in that supply chain is making a profit on those nice trees.

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Here’s a pic. I think they were in 2 gal pots, though they could have been 3 gal.

The labels said that they are hardy to 0F, but I’m guessing they were talking about the roots, not the tops. AFAIK, most figs tops start to have die back around 10-20F, depending on variety.

Speaking of which, we got down close to 10F last winter and I didn’t protect any of my figs (except those in pots). It will be interesting to see how well each type (I think I have at least a dozen in ground) pulls through.

It looks like there is plenty of green on top of the Reservoir fig, including a few tiny figlets.

Agreed, though Costco was charging even less last year- $17.99.

One of the guys at the farmer’s market I go to grows Red Skin. He doesn’t like it- he said it get’s less red (funny, given the name) than any of the other peaches he is growing in its season and doesn’t taste all that great.

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