Just made a run to Wal-Mart for the wife, but had to check out the new trees they just set out. What??? You know how many people are going to buy these thinking they’re getting sweet cherries?
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I can’t figure out why the nurseries that supply big box stores get away with this when if they sold any other product with blatantly misleading labeling they would be fined by the federal government. Why doesn’t false advertising apply to nursery stock? God bless.
Marcus
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Pretty sad when you think about the poor consumer won’t know it until 3-4 years. The ol’ buyer beware thing I guess huh? Dang.
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Same thing with the plum x apricot hybrid that I bought from Home Depot. It was sold as a Yellow Crush pluot. The tag depicted an apricot-like fruit, but it turned out to be Flavor Queen Pluot.
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I would guess they get away with it because of two things. One taste is subjective, sweet vs tart. Second they know that the majority of people who shop there will never follow up on a mislabeled tree.
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I would really like to think that this is just an accident and a horrible mistake was made somewhere. I’m not sure that’s the case but I’d rather an accident than deliberate mislabeling
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90% of those people will kill their cherry tree anyway 
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Unless it really is a sweet cherry and the Montmorency label is wrong
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Not just any sour cherry but that one is among the most Puckery there is. Great pie cherries so maybe I should go buy a couple.
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I bet only about 5% of people who buy a cherry tree in Walmart ever harvest any fruit. More often than not the birds strip unnetted fruit- even in regions they can produce without spray. A Montmorency isn’t quite as attractive to birds so the consumer might even get a few cherries- dead ripe they are almost sweet and not a bad forage fruit at all.
Walmart and other big box stores sell fruit trees without any in-house knowledge to guide their customers anyway, so customers wouldn’t be getting what they think they are buying even from properly labeled trees- except maybe in the west where you can often plant a tree, keep it alive for a few years and harvest fruit without further intervention. Especially if you live in a populated area without groundsquirrels, gophers or raccoons.
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Well my $ is on it being a sour cherry, since that’s exactly what the container says it is. I told the manager about their advertising, so we’ll see what they do about it. There’s probably about 10 of them out there like this.
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I’ve bought a Dwarf Tartarian from WM that turned out to be much larger than a dwarf and it produces pretty well for me. I also got my Red Baron from them and it has been an excellent producer.
LOL!! That picture is CLASSIC!!!
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I think your youngest has probably seen the look your wife gives you when you start talking trees!
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Yes, I doubt that is deliberate. The retailer has their own labels for cherry trees, orders cherry trees from the wholesaler and sticks their tags on them.
Most people would be better off with the sour anyway, less issues and self fertile. I do some landscaping jobs and it’s funny how many people plant “Bing” out here by itself. They know the name from the supermarket but don’t know it needs a pollinator and more chill.
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If you are in a climate where you can grow them, the Romance series sour cherries are about the most delicious things in the world, all of them. Sadly cherries and South Georgia don’t mix.
God bless.
Marcus
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What annoys me even more is when these garden centers sell climate inappropriate plants. I was at one last week and it seemed everything I looked at needed 800-1,100 chill hours which we get here in SW Louisiana about once every 4-5 years (typical is 500-550, this year was barely 400)
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TCT–you know my family so well and yet we’ve never met! 
Look, that photo of your girls may very well be the greatest photo I have ever seen on here, maybe anywhere. I literally laughed out loud. The young one looks like she is just so disgusted with this situation. PRICELESS!!! 
I’m probably known for being somewhat of a defender of big box fruit trees because I’ve bought a lot and generally had pretty good luck and like some of the advantages of being about to see and select my tree. But the mislabeling problem is definitely an issue and more attention should be given. I bet you $1000 they won’t change a thing after you told them. In my experience Lowes is by far the worst offender. I’ve seen at all at lowes- apples with cherry labels, peaches with pear lables, and so on. Things that even the MOST inexperienced nursery worker should be able to know. I’ve told managers about these obvious errors but never seen them make changes. But I’m not a conspiracy theorist that believes it is intentional. I think they give a stack of labels to whatever 17 year old employee or plumbing department worker is in lawn and garden that day and they just stick them on. I certainly go by the pot label when possible, but often it isn’t. I then go by the grower tag. The last thing I look at is the photo tag that lowes applies.themselves.
Like Ross said, few people buying trees at Big Box stores will get them to live and even fewer will ever give fruit. They all think they can plant a tree and wait a few years and they will have buckets of fruit. Also, how many people buy 1 sweet cherry, 1 apple, etc and have no idea about pollination? And most big box stores carry trees that are EXTREMELY unsuited for the area. You wouldn’t believe the trees I’ve seen for sale at our Lowes. One was a Lemon with nothing but OUTSIDE instructions. and more.
SO, even though I do sometimes champion the big box tree option, I do so only for those who know what they are doing- people like on this web site. I’d never advocate joe public buy there.
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Hah, love it! Zoe is like, “this is boring, let’s go, or I’m calling Mom!”
(( you didn’t buy it, did you? ))
My wife was at Lowe’s a few days ago, and saw some Monty’s, North Star, Van, Black Tartarian, Lapins, and Lambert, among others. She said they had a 8ft Mcintosh, and she almost bought it, but thought against it. They also had Pink Lady, Arkie Black, Liberty, Jonagold, Stayman, and Fuji. Also had some pears, amongst others
We got three apples, a peach and a pear coming at the end of the month, so we need to resist the temptation of any more trees.
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