Starting this thread because I am not familiar with buying from wholesale rootstock vendors. Looking for experiences people can share buying from Copenhaven, Willamette, or similar and whether they allow or disallow non-commercial purchases.
Overall I just don’t know every nursery out there. Examined together, which has the most impressive quality, pricing, and shipping that stretches your dollar the furthest?
Give Treco a compare. They seem to have good prices in comparison. Excellent service too.
Heck, pretty sure if you wanted a tree clonally propagated in bulk; their sister company would do it. Say 10,000 of your Granpa’s favorite apple tree.
They all seem similar. Major unknown is quality comparison and shipping rates.
Say I want 200 of 3/8" caliper G41:
Treco - $2.59 + $0.30 royalty = $518 + $60 = $578 + shipping
Willamette - $2.63 + $0.30 royalty = $526 + $60 = $586 + shipping
Copenhagen - $2.56 + $0.30 royalty = $512 + $60 = $572 + shipping
Mehrabyan - $3.36 = $672 + tax (local to me)
Cummins - $3.60 = $720 + tax (local to me)
I suspect while they all grow certain types; I would bet good money they co-operatively share some types.
Like Treco probably does not grow M111. Like some others seem light on quanities of Geneva stock, but Treco grows lots of it.
One other facet is Treco offers “Regrade” root stock at 20% less list. I bought some last year and basically it is in some way not perfect. Off caliper mostly. A few did have light roots though. I saved those for stooling.
Per mere chance regrades are not available for most of this years choices other the P.2 and M111 on what we are buying.
In 2019 I attempted to place an order with Williamette, but they were out of inventory for what I wanted and they referred me to Copenhaven. I have my third order in with Copenhaven for this spring, they’ve been great. I agree on the shipping, I still don’t know what my charges will be, that will be a separate charge when the root stocks get shipped, but I can understand why they’re doing it that way.
Regarding Cummins and Mehrabyan, they don’t grow their root stocks, they’re purchasing in bulk from the same nursery’s and then selling at retail prices. Not a bad thing, it allows backyard growers to buy small quantities of root stock that the wholesalers don’t want to deal with. If you pick up at Cummins, you’ll see the shipping crates stamped with Williamette, Copenhaven, et.al sitting around.
What has shipping been like for your previous orders with Copenhagen? Tax on top of that? I find some vendors collect NY tax while others don’t.
Is regrade pricing something you’d contact them about? I don’t immediately see it noted on their site.
When you view the inventory; they will list available regrades under each type. If you order those available you get 20% off.
If I recall they only have 1/4" M111 in regrades this season. And I had good luck with P2 regrades last year and will use them again.
Imo regrade pricing helps with the pricey Geneva stuff with the royalties.
It’s been a while since I’ve ordered so I don’t recall shipping cost on prior orders, but I’m sure it was reasonable.
My order was $206.25 in product, $4.13 OR Certification, and $22.50 Geneva Royalty Fees, no NY tax. Shipping yet to be determined.
I seem to recall 200 rootstock came up to $84 last year from an Oregon vendor. Of course we are darn near Florida here.
Were you pleased with your regrades? They were usable? I contacted Treco and they’re sold out of the first-grade rootstock I wanted, but they did have regrade available for a healthy discount.
We have purchased from Copenhaven several times. Very happy with the rootstock and the customer service as well.
Been dealing with treco for decades. Truly great quality and customer service.
I always order regrades when available, which they always are on m26. According to treco, regrades are mostly made up of stock with less rooting. I have found this to never be an issue.
Also since i mostly bud my trees, i order the smaller calliper and push them in the nursery through spring and early summer. They usually end up just right for budding and ive saved money in the purchace.
I only had a few trees with low root development. I planted them and used them later. Most were just curved or bent. Nothing that bother grafting at all.
I will buy them again as regrades.
Thanks everyone for replying with their experiences. Treco has a stock of G214 regrades, and with the regrade tier being 20% off list they were the price winner.
Treco - $2.59 * (0.8) + $0.30 royalty = $414.40 + $60 = $474.40 + shipping
Let us know how the order turns out.I think you will be happy.
I ended up purchasing 100 rather than the 200 previously mentioned. Received the order this week via FedEx. Shipping altogether was $53.61 for the 100 rootstock weighting in at 24lbs. This shipping cost consisted of the shipping itself plus a boxing fee. There’s also a certification fee of $3.47.
Treco - $2.59 * (0.8) + $0.30 royalty + shipping = $207.20 + $30 + $53.61 + $3.47 = $294.28 or $2.94 per root.
Very pleased with the product. 3/8" is big for some of the scions I have, so I might get a smaller caliber next year. That being said, the roots are fantastic and will be looking to see if the larger stock promotes better growth this season. About half of the whip and tongue bench grafts are aligned to one side only.
I have an package of apple rootstock and scions shipping from the PNW tuesday. Not sure by what shipping company or level of service.
Evidently I am crazy enough to launch an Agrarian Sharing Network style show featuring grafting your own apples. Need to find like minded crazy folks interested in sharing seeds as well.
Definitely would like to invite Southeastern US fruit fans to attend. Time and place has yet to be decided.
That is a great price for good locking stock! I should have just bitten the bullet and bought 100 from one place myself instead of buying 20, then another 20 from somewhere else, and then realizing I want more already!
