I know this is not the time of year to plant trees in the Chicago area, but I wanted to get my ordering complete for spring. Unfortunately, the prices seem inflated at Stark Bros., Raintree, Burnt Ridge, etc., and their stock seems small. Do you think the prices will fall when they release their 2021 Spring inventory later this fall? Should I just wait until November/December to order?
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Now is when most are or starting to do sales. Many have already had their sales. You are right in that many of them have small products with newer large prices. I looked at Stark Bros yesterday. Their prices went up and are now insane for a one foot tree. You can often find discount codes online for some vendors.
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Try Grow Organic (https://www.groworganic.com/). All my plum and pluot trees are from them. The trees I received were sourced from Dave Wilson and are doing well.
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Thanks! I’ll put them on my list - I tried earlier, and it seems their website is having problems - it’s been up and down like a seesaw.
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You might try this vendor. They actually grow trees in Illinois… I bought trees from them this year and planted them in the Spring. They offer Fall and Spring shipment. The website (at least when I ordered) defaulted to Fall shipment so I had to email them to switch to having the order shipped in the Spring.
Their trees run about $ 22ea.
I think prices for seeds, trees and bushes are going to be higher this year from most of the bigger vendors. Demand is high since many people have either discovered or rediscovered gardening during the pandemic.
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Maybe short supply and higher pricing gets more folks into grafting, rooting cuttings, etc! ?
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Perhaps! I do graft. I just don’t want to do it if I don’t have to!
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Thank you MROOT for the referral. I totally forgot about Heritage Farm - they will be updating their inventory on September 15th for Fall and Spring shipping. I may do as BlueBerry suggest below and actually do some grafting - I’ve had such poor success with it in the past.
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Your welcome. Another option is Schlabach’s. They have a fairly good selection of apples and stone fruits. They also carry orchard sprays and supplies. Trees run about $18ea.
They are Amish so you will need to write a short letter asking for a catalog and send them a check for $2.00.
Schlabach’s Nursery
2784 Murdock RD
Medina, NY 14103
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Interesting. I vaguely remember hearing about them. I’ll write a short letter and send a check. I like supporting small business.
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That is interesting, my guess is COVID drove up prices since lots of people were working on their houses/yards under COVID. I am sure the price rises are spotty, mom and pop places are probably not upping it so much. I just checked one of my favorite such places, Century Farms, and they are still $20 a tree. A good year to support the small guys 
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I totally agree with you @scottfsmith - support family-owned, small business!
I bet it is pandemic related too. I’m having a fence installed, and the prices have gone up quite a bit because of material and labor and increased number of people doing yard work.
Jason, if you’re looking for apple, pear or persimmon some of the best prices on quality trees I’ve found is from 39th Parallel Nursery. I’ve never been disappointed with anything I’ve gotten from Mike.
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Does anyone have a good nursery they use that doesn’t charge an arm and a leg for shipping? Lots of these nurseries I notice use UPS/FedEx and I’d be just fine with USPS First Class for bareroot stuff
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lol good eye
I have had very good luck with them as well.