Price increase?

I saw my order from Raintree shipped and as usual I go and check what shipped and saw this. Is there a problem on there end or is this the new normal.

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yes theyā€™re more expensive than last year. I think theyā€™re just pricing to demand, in your own screenshot 3 of 4 are sold out so it was smart to do

burnt ridge has a lot of the same stuff, theyā€™re only a few miles away, and somewhat cheaper. any of the DWN stuff at raintree is usually cheaper at bay laurel or groworganic. so we still have options

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Iā€™ll be grafting all my own new trees at these prices. Thatā€™s a big jump from what I was paying even just last year!

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I agree that is a big jump from last year. I donā€™t recall tree prices last year but I think thatā€™s about $10 a tree increase now I can understand cost increase but after a certain point people will stop buying. Costco has 14.99 a tree Iā€™d be inclined for that than 49.99. I have bought numerous trees just to try them. But at that price I doubt Iā€™d even have half of what I have.

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I ordered some things from them mid-January. They seemed to tack on ~$10 to their fruit trees at some point after I put my order in.

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Trees are definitely going up faster than inflation. $35 last year, $40 this year, and $50 next year. I think the demand may drop when the pandemic fizzles out. I can buy a potted tree from a nursery for $50.

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Best thing to do is grow out your own or buy rootstocks and build your own trees. I havenā€™t mail ordered trees for a few years.

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Appletown Wonder supposedly is an apple that grows from cuttings.
Anyone growing this apple?

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fullplate i got my three ā€˜frankentreesā€™ by buying $9 and $14 trees and adding varieties.

but at $3 (or low as $1 if you buy enough) rootstocks are still reasonableā€¦
yet producing a few each year for personal use seems wise.

Iā€™ve been willing to pay for trees when I want to start using them immediately for hand pollination and crossing varieties. Otherwise, I can wait two years for a Budagovsky graft to start blooming.

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I think their prices are getting too expensive to buy from them. Stark Brothers did the same thing this year. I am not sure why some nurseries have really raised their prices this year. Except the fact so many people bought trees and seeds last year because of staying home with the Covid issue. Short term gain and losing regular customers does not seem like a good business plan to me.

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I purchased some of the out of stock trees they had pre season and it seems to me that the sold out varieties didnt change in price. However the ones i purchased they still have jumped up about $15.

The last few years i have seen Stark Bros do this, pricing starts off cheaper, but as the year moves on, pricing increases. I stopped buying from them as several times, I never got my order due to the varieties being ā€œback orderedā€, even though I had my order in the previous year.
Raintree is in washington state, where they have always had a super high minimum wage (lived there from 01 to 03).

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Stark Brothers will still be peddling trees in June, when they start running a sale every week. The problem with pricing is that most people new to buying fruit trees have no history of price to compare to. We are going to raise prices slightly next year but we will be a far cry from the prices listed by the BIG BOX STORE nurseries (Starks, Burnt Ridge, Raintree, Dave Wilson). Thats my new term for these nurseries now. They have learned a new marketing approach to boost their bottom lines. I wish we could significantly increase our production to meet the demand, but we wont ever be a big name in the fruit tree nursery business. We took the old time adage of producing one of the highest quality products when we started and I will quit before I give up that standard. Add on top of the demand for trees and one of biggest producers of fruit trees on the East ā€œCoastā€ has had numerous crop failures over the last few years and it is taking a toll on an already strained system.

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I really donā€™t need any more Iā€™m already at the point of planting to close together or at recomending distances. I just checked my order at there website and saw those prices and was floored. I wouldnā€™t mind one the new Cornell apple varieties just released but I donā€™t want it for 50 plus shipping. Iā€™ve got several grafting projects this year to occupy my time. And at those prices not going to dig up 6 year old trees and put new ones in.

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Well now I want to buy some trees from you :joy:

Thatā€™s what I think what happened. With more people staying home and wanting to supplement their food stores, there mightā€™ve been a huge demand then. This year, I donā€™t know if thatā€™s the case, but there might be less inventory to pick from, and hence higher prices.

My days of buying trees are over, I have more than I can manage now, plus more in pots that need planted. I havenā€™t ordered a tree in 3 years, itā€™s just been berry plants since then.

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I didnt respond to drum up more business for our nursery (you can find us in the Trading Post section if you are so inclined). We are sold out of almost everything at this point for this spring.

I guess I was trying to shed some insight from a different perspective. We are fairly knowledgeable about the production side of this business as we live it every day. The trend for these crazy prices for a bare root tree, of sub standard size started well before COVID became a thing. We are most in the loop of how things have charged at Starks. Unfortunately, they have seriously begun to damage their reputation in terms of what they used to be. As far as I know there are no new up and coming large operations that will be replacing or competing with the ā€œBIGā€ nurseries. Too many hurdles exist anymore for that to happen, both financially and regulation wise. My best advice is to search out the ā€œMom and Popā€ nurseries with a good reputation. In my opinion they are likely the best option for getting quality trees at a reasonable price.

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Good point!!!

Yes, tree prices are going up, but I would suggest that it is inflation across a wide band of inputs that is under reported. Whether it be wood or steel or fertilizer or tools or trees or houses all are galloping higher. Here north of the 49th all the reputable nurseries have been sold out of the popular varieties for a couple months already. There is one big player(by our standards) who will release their inventory next week, and I expect they will be sold out quickly. It will be interesting to see whether they take advantage of the market conditions or not. For those of us who have been planting fruit trees for years already we can be happy we are ahead of the curve.:grinning: I would expect rootstock prices to escalate as well.

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From 2 of the biggest root stock suppliers, both of who I have talked to in the last 2 weeks. They are expecting 2022 prices to go up 2-3% which is a typical yearly price increase. That is for commercial orders so cant speak to price increase on smaller orders or for prices that will be charged when the 3rd party root stock suppliers list it on their websites.

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