Potted fruit tree in local retail nurseries, why not bareroot?

General Fruit Growing
1

For the past couple spring seasons, I really enjoy going to the local retail nurseries and big box stores to see their spring fruit tree inventory. In my area (NYC, 7b), almost all the fruit trees I saw are potted trees and it seems they all have been potted in 5-7 gallon containers for 1/1+ year. They are usually double the price we will pay for online barefoot excluding shipping cost. The tree can be bigger comparing to some bareroot tree online, but mostly never pruned or pruned poorly! While few trees are in good condition, majority of them have clear sign of cankers, borer damage …

What I don’t understand is why would most nursery business here are ordering 1/1+ year potted tree from wholesale instead of directly order bareroot tree? I understand barefoot season is short, I would expect them to sell bareroot trees first, if any “leftover” then pot them and sell for later part of season.

Why does it make sense? Can you explain?

Thank you

2

Working in a garden center, we simply lack the means to properly store bare root trees. Having them potted also extends the ‘lifespan’.

4 Likes
3

Amperand,

Thank you for the explanation. I am curious, why not getting “fresh” potted bareroot tree instead. Maybe wholesalers do not provide such option? I guess I just do not see the value of having bareroot tree grow one more year in a small-sized container. or I am missing something basic…

Thanks

4

Infinite,
Here in Texas the potted fruit trees are not near double the price of online bareroot. They are 22.99$ when the potted fruit trees first come out (in Feb) and then they always go on sale in March at 50% off. I have no issue with potted trees and actually prefer them to bareroot online trees because I get to inspect the trees, looking for the branching structure that I want compared to just getting what a company ships me.

1 Like
5

Multiple reasons come to mind, but the main one is that the average joe who comes into my work wants a 6-7’ tree with half decent pruning that will fruit the first year. They don’t want a 3’ bareroot that needs training. They also want apples that they buy in the store (Honeycrisp, Gala, etc), not apples that are easy to grow no matter how much you explain disease and spraying.

Just fyi, our trees are in 7 gal pots and run 6-8’ for $50 (used to be $45). Nearly all fruit the first year but I tell people to remove most/all at planting. In the past my company did buy in bareroots and pot them up, but the added labor/materials wasn’t worth it.

1 Like
6

Ampersand,
$50 is the price of potted fruit trees at Home Depot and Lowe around here.

At a local nursery, it was $110 a pot last year. I could not believe it was that expensive.

I bought my potted Korean Giant from there in 2008 for $50.

2 Likes
7

Here in CA, the bare roots would be dormant for very little time. One wholesaler has its bare roots in a plastic bag for very cheap every year. It saddens me to see it on sale every year at $10 with the roots baking in a plastic bag in the hot sun.

1 Like
8

We have a little local hardware store for farmers here that gets small wholesale orders of fruit trees. They pot them up immediately from bareroot and sell them cheaply once they have broken dormancy nicely. That’s where I got a lot of my trees. I’m glad they weren’t bareroot because places rarely take the same care of fragile bareroot plants. This place also has no cold storage.

They get more expensive if they are left to grow older and be re-potted up. There are very few that remain, though. We have a lot of food farmers and backyard enthusiasts in my area. And the prices are excellent!

1 Like
9

Thank you for the explanation. This makes sense to me. I look back when I started 2 years ago, I had pretty much the same mentality (ex. instant orchard) :slightly_smiling:

Thanks

1 Like
10

I wish my local retail nurseries will do thing like that. That’s idea way to sell fruit IMHO.

Thanks

11

Our Home Depot, Lowes, and Wal-Mart only sell container fruit trees. The big shock is the pricing difference. $20-$25. I guess it is cheaper living down here.

12

Around here they are bare root trees stuck in a pot, then labeled “Red”, “Yellow”, and “Green”.

1 Like
13

If I was in that kind of nursery business I’d keep trees refrigerated and sell bare roots for about 45 days. I don’t know why no one sells them that way- when you sell a tree you sell a bunch of other stuff, so it seems like you could sell them as cost leaders and make money. The other thing a nursery could do is take orders during winter with a date for pick-ups.

When you get people to your business you are IN BUSINESS- especially if the business is selling plants and planting supplies and you get them there in early spring.

Trees are amongst the first things you can plant.

1 Like
14

I’m in Tulsa. Our home depot is carrying bareroot trees this year. Well they are in a bag of sawdust. $13 and the varieties suck. Lol. We have a farm and ranch store called Atwood’s that also get bareroot trees for $13. They had a couple decent types but nothing too exciting. The potted trees are going for $22-$26.
Mike

1 Like