Hand Picked Nursery

Hi all,
Does anyone have an opinion of Hand Picked Nursery, a seller on Amazon of bare root strawberries and raspberries? I want to order some of their Mara Des Bois and Sparkle strawberries this year, but I ordered MdB strawberries from them last year and I am very suspicious that that is not what they sent me. The strawberries they sent last year developed no runners, and have quite large berries that each seem to have their own stem attached to the plant. Some MdB strawberries I ordered from Logee’s this year look completely different, with many strawberries stemming from one long stem, and smaller berries. Anyone have a similar experience?

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As someone that manages multiple accounts for brands that sell on Amazon I would never buy plants there when i am looking for a specific variety. Its just like buying off eBay, there’s very few restrictions on who can create an account and sell plants, i believe. Additionally, sellers can change their name at any time so unless they are a known nursery I would stay away.

To be clear: I buy snacks, pet food, electronics, etc. without hesitation but not variety specific plants.

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Buying from the internet if the seller doesn’t also have a reputation from years of selling via a actual farm location…
would be like going to a whorehouse and
hoping you got your money’s worth, (without having to go to the doctor about something you got that you didn’t want)!

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One of the best place to buy berries is Nourse Farm in Whately, MA.

https://www.noursefarms.com/category/strawberry-plants/.

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Thank you for all your advice, @dimitri_7a, @BlueBerry and @mamuang. The issue is that I can’t find Mara Des Bois available anywhere except from this seller on Amazon, and that I don’t necessarily want 25 plants to just try out a new variety like Sparkle. If anyone knows where I can still find MdB strawberries from a reputable source, please let me know!

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This time is kind of late now. You can post your request on the Trading Post category. People who have this variety may be able to dig a few up for you.

That’s how I got mine. A gift from a kind friend.

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nourse has mara des bois and sparkle. sparkle is worth growing. its a old cultivar but flavor is outstanding! better than mara des bois in my opinion.

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Nourse is sold out for the season.

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Nourse carries them. Unless they are sold out.

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Hand Picked Nursery has a website, an instagram,a facebook, and other social media, so they are not just Amazon sellers. That said, I found it a little odd that I couldn’t find them on Dave’s Garden Watchdog.

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I poked around their site and instagram and I just don’t have a good feeling about this company. The photos look kind of staged and maybe even stolen from the internet (a lot of them are distorted). I don’t know… maybe you should call them and ask a few questions and see what you think. The number is on their website.

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That’s a great suggestion, @FarmGirl-Z6A, I’ll try to contact them and report back what I find out. My recent strawberries from last year’s original plants purporting to be MDB have big mushy rotten spots on the underside. I’ll have to look into the cause of that…

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I have a sneaky suspicion that HPN is a Hirt company. I typed Hand Picked Nursery in the Amazon search box and a Hirt’s strawberry listing came up (among other things). I went to the listing and to the one stars and found a verified review saying that their strawberries came from Hand Picked Nursery. The only way for a review to be listed as verified is for the order to come from that particular listing. Now, the person writing the review could have gotten mixed up and figured that the plants came from HPN, but what are the odds?

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So, did anyone take a chance and order from this nursery?

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I hadn’t heard of them until you resurrected this thread, but I did have a great experience ordering MDB from Nourse farms at a reasonable price. I’d go with them again in a heartbeat and will likely place another order this year.

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I agree with you, I’ve been ordering from Nourse for years and have never been disappointed yet. I was actually talking about this nursery with another member privately and wondered if anyone had ordered from them yet due to our discussion.

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Hello, This is Hand Picked Nursery. My name is Reinhart Elboeck and I am a veteran owned business. I just found this today and thank you for your feedback. We take pride in sending out quality plants and I do not hide from any sale we have. I give my personal cell number with every order. 919 696 0328. We do carry the Mara des Bois, sparkle and many more varieties in many different increments. Just go to our website or just call.

I appreciate all the feedback and would love to here from you personally.

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Hi Reinhart, welcome to the forum!

It’s always great to hear directly from a nursery about their products. I’ve found that helpful customer service and excellent communication is the deciding factor between an OK and a great experience, especially with online operations. It sounds like you are trying to provide a good experience.

I just checked out your website and had some questions. I noticed you sell persimmon trees. Are these seedlings, and if so, do you know if they seeds from the northern or southern type (60 or 90 chromosome), or are they Asian persimmons? Northern seedlings are hardier than southern seedlings, and Asians typically only do well in warmer climates. You may want to specify if you are selling seedlings or grafted cultivars. I see that you said zone 6-9 and the photo you have appears to be a fuyu Asian (but I am no expert).

Additionally, I am betting you are aware that there are male and female flowers (some trees have both).

On your listing for pawpaws, you have “These 1-2’ Paw Paw trees make for a great exotic fruit option that grows well almost anywhere. They grow up to 25 feet and produce fruit known to be packed with nutrients!”

Ironically, pawpaws are actually a native fruit and the largest native to North America. It would be helpful for you to add a disclaimer that at least two trees are required for pollination to produce fruit, and to plant them close together. They also do not like dry locations or saturated soils.

I’m not saying these things to attack you, but to help you inform your customers and improve their experience.

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I looked at your website and the picture for your “Northsky Minnesota Half-High Bush Blueberry”, " Earliblue" and “Blueray” is actually a stock photo of a blackthorn, not at all related to a blueberry and your cherry and elderberry pages have pictures of dogwood blossoms. Also, the second black walnut photo is not a black walnut. The photo of the red mulberry is a photo of a black mulberry (morus nigra).

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Everybody has to start somewhere…I’m just as skeptical of a brand new business, brand new bank, etc…like how’d they suddenly get the best fleet of vehicles in the region, a great location and the biggest ads in the book or billboard? Is the MAFIA behind them? Or the Chinese government?
But, until a new business gets a reputation over time, you’re still taking chances. Sometimes it turns out fine.

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