I’m looking for a bit of advice about a tree I got from Raintree Nursery today. As I hope you can see in the photo, the branches are all tiny little things and most of them either snapped during shipping or appear dried out and dead at the tips. I’ve scratched the bark and trunk and the few branches towards the top are green so it’s alive. I am new to the online bareroot ordering. Would more experienced people consider this to be a low quality tree that I should complain about? It’s a far cry from the Satsuma and green gage plums I got from OGW as well. Thanks for the help
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Nah. It’s just a typical mail order tree.
When you get a tree that arrives having broken dormancy you have to worry.
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It looks good to me, all that matters is that it survives and that it gets strong. The lower the price of the bare root often the thinner the trees are. That is why they are cheaper. The down side is that they take longer to fruit.
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It’s just been “butchered” on top so it will fit in the shipping carton.
Not good…but it happens all the time.
I have never received such a beat up tree from Raintree. This spring I received a bare root semi dwarf peach tree. And last spring a plum tree. Both were in excellent condition. Of course they were top pruned to fit in the box, but Neither had broken limbs like your picture shows. I think you should call them, speak to the manager so he is aware of the poor shipping packing and preparation.
It looks pretty typical to me. All those lower branches you want to prune off anyway and the upper part looks healthy. What is bad is when the upper shoots or roots don’t look healthy, or if it has started to leaf out.
Last year the worst tree I got was from Raintree, even Gurneys beat them by a mile. They are not what they used to be, they used to always send very healthy trees.
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It would be interesting to see the roots though.
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It also depends on the rootstock and what variety you are getting. Dwarf rootstocks never look as impressive as a peach and indian free peach never comes looking impressive. If it was not packed by an idiot it was probably the “throwers” in the shipping department.
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This has been normal in my experience for any company that doesn’t do a full pruning for you. Here is a video where the guys from Raintree went to a families farm to plant with them and explain what to do in planting and setup:
Don’t Plant Fruit Trees Until You Watch This - Raintree - YouTube
At about 12:45 they talk about pruning and how they got complaints that the trees didn’t have branches, so they stopped doing a full prune before shipping, but they expect you to prune the tree up when you get it.
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I was most concerned about the long term implications of the tree only having these tiny little twigs of branches with dried out tips. I know I have no idea what they pruned off but I imagine it wouldn’t have been bigger branches.
I took a picture of everything I ordered after I opened the box, hopefully the roots come through well enough. They seem fine. The other items are a Chilean guava and Poorman gooseberry for anyone who is curious. The Poorman I got is a beast, it’s about the same size as the Hinnomaki Red and Captivator I planted last year
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I’m planning on using this as a 3 in1 hole with a superior and a satsuma plum. I hope it can keep up if it is starting out behind
After years of mail ordering bare root trees from Bay Laurel, raintree, and peaceful valley, I finally found a nursery about 40 minutes away that gets boatloads of Dave Wilson bare root trees around new years eve. After seeing for the first time the condition of the trees at pick up, I swore to myself that I’d never mail order bare root trees again. The roots are much more developed and spreading, trees themselves much bigger, and much nicer branching. There’s no way they could fit the nicer looking bare root trees in a shipping box without root pruning. I can choose which specimen out of a dozen, the prices are actually better, and I save on shipping.
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We all should be so lucky.
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I am. I live about 20 minutes away from Bay Laurel, so can handpick my trees and drive them home in the car. Believe me, I’m thankful. 
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my favorite are 4 foot tall whips
i do knee high prune anyway so i dont actually want a huge tree
i see a lack of consistency which isnt great
most nurseries give a 1 year warranty… so either way ull b ok
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I live in southern Oregon and have ordered plants and rootstocks from Raintree many times in the past. They got a new owner 2 years ago and it appears that quality has gone down and prices have gone up. They do have some unusual varietals that is difficult to find elsewhere. But when they raised their price of bareroot fruit trees to $49.99 this year that was the last straw.
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Two years ago my rootstocks arrived bare root and leafed out in mid June. That was my last order with them.
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I think I may have gotten G890 or B118 rootstocks from them last year, but that’s all I’ve ordered since the ownership change. One green world and Edible landscaping websites look just as attractive considering the price increases.
You are lucky they shipped it to the right location. My rootstocks shipped out Monday, and they are currently in Ohio. I emailed them to find out why my in-state delivery is on its way to Cleveland, but no reply yet.
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