Recommendations---MI. nursery and/or Mail Order for Apple Trees right now?

General Fruit Growing
#1

Hi,

I have a friend that would like to plant a granny smith apple tree this spring. I checked in with Charlie Morse, from Morse Nurseries in Battle Creek, MI. and he doesn’t have any grannies. Besides, I don’t think my friend wants a big tree (e.g. an M109 or Bud118) in this area. Does anyone have any recommendations for nurseries and/or mail order right now for, say, a granny that will get no more than 20’ tall. I’m not a fan of the superdwarfing apples (they seem to need lots of TLC) but I think the size requirement is going to trump other considerations. The other trees we’re planting are from Morse.

Thanks!

#2

The bare root season is over. Even the MI mail order nurseries are done for the year.

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#3

I would first check hardware stores (Lowes/HD, ect.) and local garden/farm shops. They should have trees for another 2 months.I know Stark Bro’s usually ships late. They usually run clearance sales in late spring. There is a thread on this forum discussing their apple rootstocks. There is thread on old GW that provided some info on their rootstocks. I asked them about rootstocks once and they would only give me the 2 or 3 possibilities. They only supply specific rootstocks to commercial sales. On the residential retail side you might order a standard and they might send you something that is considered more dwarfing.

There are still options and great deals if you are not too picky on the specific rootstock. Granny Smith is fairly common. Make sure there is a pollenizer nearby, which usually isn’t a problem in the north where naturalized apples can be found everywhere.

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#4

Granny Smith is in stock at Stark Brothers.

You might also check Grandpa’s Orchard and Boyer Nurseries & Orchards as two other places that might have Granny Smith in stock as a shippable bare root tree.

Also, Raintree and Burnt Ridge are also both shipping bareroot apple trees AFAIK. One of them might have Granny Smith.

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#5

Gurney’s (Henry Field’s) has Granny Smith available right now in Li’l-BIG (M27 rootstock) and Standard (probably M111, see previous thread on this topic) formats.

If purchasing from Gurney’s, be sure your friend buys one during a “Flash Sale” (50% off), otherwise he / she will end up seriously overpaying.

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