I ordered a Standard Deluxe apple, thinking it would be a better caliper and quality than the just Standard. But later, looking it up, it sounds like the only difference might be a bunch of junk thrown in that I don’t need - fertilizer, lime, pamphlets and stuff. Plus, maybe the prune it for me.
I’d rather prune it myself, if the standards aren’t already, and I’ll also protect and feed it as I see fit.
Does anybody know if the deluxe are pruned more/differently than the standard?
I purchased a few trees from Henry Fields which I think is the same company or at least has the same parent company. I purchased a deluxe and it was just the other junk in the box which I never used since I already had other fertilizer I liked. The tree, Korean Giant Asian Pear, wasn’t much more than a small whip with the top pruned off.
I will confirm that the “deluxe” trees include a bunch of other junk that you probably have lying around or have a better solution than Gurney’s.
I’m having trouble uploading my picture from the catalog but it says it includes:
2 oz of Quick-Cal Pelletized Calcium
12 oz Bag for Fruit Tree Food Starter formula
Premium tree guard
And a silly pamphlet with information to make $1,000/week selling produce.
And if you buy one of their Li’l BIG Deluxe tree you also get some sort of hokey tree support.
Despite this up-sell junk, if you can get a decent discount on Gurney’s trees, and are OK with their rootstock choices (M111 or M27) then I really don’t think they are that bad.
I had a good experience with them 2 years ago when I ordered two plums from them. They even allowed me to specify a shipping week. The trees had to be cut to fit the box, and were in good shape when I received them. The trees I got from Gurney’s had good roots on them, too. I’m sure this isn’t everyone’s experience, but I have had some real stinkers from even good nurseries like Cummins.
Oops- I think I made the same mistake. The only thing which gives me hope that the Deluxe is bigger is “are the best your money can buy! You get perfectly sized trees” from the following link. Now, I highly doubt that they will be “perfect sized (what would that be- 3/4”? I suppose it depends on how much roots can be fit in the box…). But it gives me a sliver of hope that it may be a tad bigger. Enough that I won’t bother to update my order and save $12 ($6/tree). But if I hadn’t already placed it, I would probably go with normal…
Everything that was said so far has been my experience. Same tree basically as I would normally get. I have occasionally received dead trees from them but that was in their summer clearance sale. I would dodge that summer clearance sale. Spring and fall trees always look great and are true to type.
I just called and canceled my order and placed a new one for a regular standard. It was pretty easy, they have a 24 hour number, presumably answered in India.
My first order also included a couple of packets of seeds. When I went to add those to my new order, I noticed that 1 packet of seeds raised the shipping cost by $3. That’s about the opposite effect of what I was going for, trying to save on shipping. So, just one tree, $25.99 including shipping. $50% off showed automatically when I went to Gurney’s site.
The guy confirmed that there is no difference in the tree itself, with some prodding and follow-up questions. He had to look it up, maybe read from the catalog. He told me a page number, but it didn’t mean anything to me since I don’t have the actual catalog.
Murky,
Same here. Change my order from Deluxe to regular trees. Thanks people here for clarifying what De Luxe really means.