If a nursery offers and sells a new grower bare root plants in July how is this the fault of the (Novice) buyer? I know of a nursery that did just this with 0% success rate. Th buyer was too afraid to confront the seller. @castanea Buyers fault again?
Thats not the same thing.
For perenials the ideal time to up-pot is the dormant season.
So ideally early spring you’d always have less filled out plant pots than mid summer or fall.
And in some cases buying bare root plants (like strawberry’s) in june is perfectly fine.
Did the nursery market it as beginner friendly? Did the novice buyer ask for advice? Did the novice buyer let the nursery know they where a novice?
For the 2021 season, one of my orders included (3) 3/4 gallon White Nanking Cherry’s from Edible Landscaping for 25.00 each. These are rare plants, in fact I wasn’t able to locate another nursery stateside that have them listed on their website for sale. A few weeks after I ordered I got an email from Edible Landscaping letting me know that 2 of the varieties that I ordered were only available in 2 inch pots for 12.00 each. I was asked if I wanted to change my order and buy the 2 inch pots or cancel those two varieties. If I understand correctly what you believe to be an okay practice… you think that the seller could have just taken those plants from the 2 inch pots, put them in 3/4 gallon containers and sold them to me for 25.00 each. As long as the plants are in 3/4 gallon containers, the seller sold me what they said they would sell me, plus if I wait long enough the plants will get much bigger. I am understanding your points correctly?
you are not.
First off, as far as im aware, courants grow an order of magnitude faster than nanking. And your ordered at as different time. Your taking my words out of context and applying them to a different thing and situation.
In a month that courrant would have a decent rootsystem. And end of summer it would be close to if not rootbound.
second. In your case the seller had not gone trough the time effort and materials of uppoting those nanking’s. And could easily ask you if you where oky with the smaller plants. It’s a different situation.
3e. You ordered during dormant season as far as i understood? not after “potting up time”
4e let me put it this way.
Ideally you’d have all plants you buy be not rootbound. but also fill out the pot well. This is hard to do. It’s easier if you have 1000 plants of 1 variety that you all sell of in a short window. So then it can be done.
However with multiple varieties/species with different growth rates. It becomes impracticaly to always have all plants in stock and in perfect shape and in perfect size compared to the pot.
Lets take the courrant as an example. With it’s current rootsystem it would fit in a 1/4th gallon tall pot just fine.
However in a month or so it might get rootbound. And than you’d get complaints about it being rootbound.
Or the seller would have to repot 2-3 times a year to have the plant perfectly match pot size… this would drive the price up. And than you’d get complaints it was a “bad deal” “unfair price” “or who would pay xx$ for this topics”
For fast growing things like courrants you should
-buy them in the dormant season
-expect relativly small rootsystem in the spring after dormant season has ended
reasonably filled out mid summer
and close to rootbound in fall.
Just the nature of how those plants grow.
Do you also compain if you buy an iphone just before a new release. that it is slightly outdated compared to the new one?
Plants bought spring will be smaller than plants bought end of summer or dormant season. Just the nature of things growing.
im not sure what your eluding to? What do you think that i would think to be an oky practise?
Them asking you if your oky with smaller plants for a lower price by email?
I’m fine with that.
Again please speak for yourself. Instead of trying to speak for me.
I do not think that.
Please speak for yourself and not for me.
To be perfectly clear. In your case of the nankings.
If you ordered during dormant season, and there where only plants in 2 inch pots left. Ofcourse the seller should not pot them up before shipping to trick you.
However if he did not sell them during dormant season. I appriciate the seller uppoting them. So when they get sold at a later date they are healthy instead of rootbound. And if you choose to order past the potting up point. I think it is fair you pay a higher price, the seller had extra work and materials to pot them up.
you can’t blame the seller for you ordering at the worst time, and expecting to recieve plants as if you ordered at the best timing.
perennial plants will be smaller in the beginning of the growing season compared to the end. Thats the nature of growing.
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I tend to disregard hyperbolic descriptions like "best, “worst,” etc. What I look for in a review are specific facts about why the reviewer was satisfied or dissatisfied with the product. If the review doesn’t contain that, I ignore it.
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I made it known twice that I was trying to understand what you were saying. That is not speaking for someone.
I really don’t know why you are confused by what I asked. I believe that it was very clear:
Anyway, this seems to be going back and forth for no reason at all (imho). I have my standards and you (and others) have yours. Apparently, the owner of the nursery that the OP bought from has similar standards to mine since he told the OP that it was a mistake, he never would have sold a plant like that in a one gallon pot and has made it right. All’s well that ends well! 
I’m finished posting under this thread. It’s a beautiful day where I live. Time to go outside! I have 3 farm tours scheduled in the next week or so and I really need to get some things ready for my guests. Thankfully, I scheduled a work day today and four of my brothers and their families and my older children and their families are all coming to help get some things done! yay! It looks like it’s going to be a fun day for us! I hope everyone has a fun week growing fruit (among other things). Blessings!
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@mamuang, I’m with you on this. I see this advice a lot–to pull every plant you’re thinking of buying out of the pot to inspect the root system–but I just can’t bring myself to do it. What if the plant has been recently repotted? All the soil will fall off the roots, someone from the nursery will need to repot it, and you will have set back a perfectly good plant. Plus I’m pretty sure if I started doing that, I would be unwelcome at most of the area nurseries within a short time.
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you where stating that i think a certain thing. While i do not. Maybe next time prhase it as.
Do you think that is oky?
instead of “you think this and this”
It was a question? seemed more like a statement. Anyway it clearly was not clear! could you explain it? English is not my native language. But most of the time i think i understand people. Here maybe not… Or maybe you prhashed it akwardly?
Have fun with your work day 
. Sounds like a nice day. Seeing family and gardening, ideal combination 
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I’m sorry you didn’t like the candy analogy. Honestly I assumed you’d be able to understand that it was just a quick analogy to make a point. It never even occurred to me that anyone would be so technical as to discuss whether candy is sold in bags or pots. I’m sorry you didn’t like it. Surely if you think hard you can come up with some other, certainly better, analogy of something that shouldn’t be sold in a giant package filled with cheap material and a tiny bit of what you are paying for. Would my candy example be ok with you if I said it is a rip off to buy a BOX of candy filled with packing material and one M & M? Come on man. You knew the point I was making. I think its unfair to sell a bunch of cheap filler, make the person pay postage, and only sell them a plant that could have been a 2-3 inch cup. If you don’t agree then debate the merits, not whether candy comes in bags or not.
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Your English is excellent.
Your understanding of the nursery business is excellent.
Your understanding of how plants grow in pots is excellent.
Unfortunately many gardeners have no understanding of the nursery business at all. That’s one of the reasons I don’t sell plants and have empathy for those who do.
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I cannot understand why only someone in the nursery business can know what is right and wrong, what is fair and unfair. If only people in the nursery business are able to view this as fair and just, maybe the rest of us are onto something. And in this case we know that even the people in the nursery business that sold the plant said it was unfair and corrected their mistake. Does the consumer not have the ability to determine what is fair and unfair. I think I know when I get ripped off, I don’t have to call someone in the business field that ripped me off to ask if I was coned.
Can you please answer @Rawnutphobic’s question? If they had done this exact same thing with a 5 gallon pot and sold it for $200 plus $100 shipping for a pot they moved from a $15 cup a day or two before they sent it, would you still say it was fair? If not, please help me understand the difference. Is their any point at which you think it would be wrong? I ask with respect and sincerity. Maybe I’m missing something.
Finally, the American Standard for Nursery Stock put out by American Hort which is, as you know, the industry standard, clearly defines what is acceptable. Here is what they say:
In all cases, the root system of container grown nursery stock shall meet the following
general requirement:
Container grown nursery stock shall have a well-established root system reaching
the sides of the container to maintain a firm ball, but shall not have excessive root
growth encircling the inside of the container.
Source: American Standard for Nursery Stock, published by American Hort, 2014 p. 13.
So this would seem to be what “people in the nursery business” would go by to decide what is right and wrong.
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Pulling the plant out of the pot to check for roots is not a bad thing. If it has roots it should pull out easily. If there are no roots it will fight coming out. I yank them out of the pots every time and no one pays it any mind.
By nursery business I’m assuming you are not referring to where a huge number of people get their plants, meaning big box stores? Because those folks do not have a single clue, can’t even figure out that plants need water.
Last week I was at Lowe’s and I have never seen so many plants dead or dying. They managed to kill half a tray of succulents that you are supposed to deprive of water! The apple trees they had this year were a good 9+ feet tall, never pruned, on 3 gallon pots where you could see roots on the surface trying to find anywhere to go to, of the wrong species for our area, and of course being deprived of water.
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We can 100% absolutely certainly agree that big box stores are not good plant people/ nurserymen. For sure.We’ve all seen plants left to freeze, die of thirst, overwatered, poorly pruned, unpruned, and so on. But again, I don’t feel like I have to be in the nursery business to see that or know when they do something wrong
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Let me sum up my opinion on mail order plants. We pay for a good plant loaded with roots. We receive a plant with barely any roots that will struggle or die.
There is a right to be angry. An honorable business will make effort to only send quality plants. That is why we do these reviews to discover who is not concerned about sending good plants every time or misleads with pot sizes. It’s simple. You want what you paid for and anything short is maddening leaving you with a bias feeling ripped off.
I think the days of quality are nearing an end in favor of profits. Not all nurseries though.
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Shipping newly potted plants is a terrible idea.
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I think the problem FarmGirl is eluding to is that they paid for x amount of development. Some people are willing to pay more for a bigger root system because it will save them time. To elude to your iphone comparison by the time the new iphone will be announced the old phone will be heavily discounted and many times you can buy a used phone for hundreds of dollars less at that point. In other words if we compare at your comparison maybe a discount is in order. Either way will you remember either way likely not as it will become the same thing. That being said the seller should still offer a discount of some kind because the root development was not where it was supposed to be even though it will catch up in a month or two. I will also say that the reason I would go to a local place would be to check out the plants I want to buy and that means checking out the root system. My local places have way too much of a mark up to not be able to check out the plants. The root system is just as important if not more important than the parts above because the roots are like the heart of the plant.
I agree and I check the roots on each before I buy. It’s worth that little bit of extra money to get an undamaged root system. I only mail order what I can’t find locally.
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One more thing on root development. Of the 30 or so plants I set to overwinter last year six died. This is pretty normal, in Alaska I don’t get good green material for cuttings until mid/end July and by September it is already getting cold. They just don’t get a whole lot of time to build up before having to go dormant. I just finish emptying up all those pots and they all had something in common; negligible root development. Last fall they were all similar plants but only the ones with good root development made it.
I don’t get why people are getting flabbergasted over inspecting the roots, to me this is as normal as it can be. I’m yet to find a nursery plant that did not slide off the pot with little effort. It is not like you are trying to rip the plant off the dirt or can’t tell if the plant doesn’t want to cooperate.
Maybe the difference is that pretty much all our nursery plants come from the lower 48. Today it is May 16 and most bushes are just waking up while sales at the nurseries are in full swing. That creates two problems; the plants may have the potential to be hardy but may not survive the transition from milder weather, and often the quality can be hit or miss. I wouldn’t buy a plant I couldn’t fully inspect and it is still not uncommon for them to up and die after the first winter.
I’ve bought plants I think were potted just before shipping them and technically you would be correct. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it or talk sweet about it. I wouldn’t really care myself as long as the plant was healthy and they arrived safe. In my situation my plants lived but most of the soil came out of the pot during shipping and the plants acted like they were in shock when I got them. They grew so no big deal. But come on man.