The small trees are the stark bros are the small ones while the big trees are the ones from other companies. Many of which came at the same time. One of the big ones is a major pecan tree and the other is a toka/bubblegum plum tree and some of the small ones is a sure crop pecan as well as a bubblegum tree from stark bros. I took a picture of a Zestar! apple that I got last year from Stark Bros to show what a standard size potted Zestar! apple looks like after one year from stark bros.
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I guess I got lucky with my first experience with StarkBros. As for other nurseries, I find HoneyBerry send very small whips for the price. I got 2 romance cherries about 8-10" from them that were $25-30. I also find their shipping cost is fairly expensive, similar to Edible Landscaping. Womack shipping was highest at $35 for a $45 4-5’ jujube.
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Honeyberry sends small plants but they are more rare plants. They sell Baily cherry on its own roots, parts of the romance cherries that are hard to get and their arctic raspberries are much cheaper than some other sites I visited. I think honey berry USA charged me 20 something dollars shipping. Edible Landscaping charges a percentage and their plants are super costly so shipping is extremely expensive there. I do not buy from them unless I cannot get what I want anywhere else. One Green World charges me 23 dollars for shipping but I can put a lot of trees on an order. One Green World has very affordable prices though. Bay Laurel charge 33 or 35 dollars for shipping but is the same way as One Green World. Raintree charges a bunch for trees and charges 23 dollars per tree for shipping but they have nicer rootstocks for my area and have more rare varieties so you have that tradeoff. Trees of Antiquity has expensive trees and expensive shipping but their trees are quite big. Stark Bros has a lot of common varieties, expensive prices and no rootstock description. Some trees I get from them have had issues too. Their shiro plum tree I got from them had a bunch of white stuff on the roots and died. Other trees I want seem to never be in stock or come to stock. I have been on the waitlist for 2 years now for self fertile pecans other than the sure crop.
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I take it you’ve bought from them all. Good information.
My experience per HoneyberryUSA is their bare root plants are a good value.
But, the potted ones are very small, and probably nor raised by Honeyberry but by somebody else.
I look for options close to home first, but some things aren’t available close by.
I purchased my first honeyberries about 12 years ago…from a Univ. of Tennessee professor’s better half…I’m guessing he didn’t get his stock via any regular nursery but from friends in universities.
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Only one I am still yet to see mentioned is Bay Laurel which I will see in around 2 weeks since I have my plants from them shipping start of March. This will be my first year from Cummins, Bay Laurel and Burnt Ridge. Raintree sent me a Comice pear, Warren Pear, salmonberry, thimbleberry, Cascade pear and some blackberries. All are alive but the Cascade pears they sent me and the salmonberry and thimbleberry I am pretty sure were dead on arrival too. One cascade pear came dead and the other the leaves turned black and we could not figure out what it was. I have a ambassador walnut tree, 2 Chinese Mormon apricot, 2 zee sweet 4 in 1 pluot, 2 4 in 1 pluot, 2 raspberry red nectarine, 1 donut nectarine, 1 medlar, 1 fruit punch cherry plum, 1 hughbush cranberry, 1 male seaberry, 3 female seaberry, 4 4 in 1 mirabelle and a bunch of ground cover coming from Raintree this year in April so I will see how those are. Like I said I am not too big of a fan of Stark Bros because of the size of plants with the price and have bought lots from there. Honeyberry USA sent me arctic raspberries and they doubled in width or more first year. I have some bush cherries on order this year as I hear they do decent in shade and don’t grow too big. One Green World I got an almond (I forget which kind), Green Gage, Hazelnut bushes, Mountain Rose apple some pawpaw. All are alive but the pawpaw and there was just a series of bad events for them. First the fence fell on them and then because they were unprotected the animals got to them but they did just fine other than that. I have more hazelnuts and some miniature peaches/nectarines on order from this year as well as some plum hybrids. Trees Of Antiquity sent me an apple tree (I forget the variety but it was an antique variety from Jefferson’s farm or Washington’s farm) and a Bavays Green Gage. Both are alive and kicking. I have a Cox Orange Pippin coming from Trees Of Antiquity next Spring. Jung Seed sent me blueberries when I first started gardening. They were small but cheap and affordable for me at the time. I think it was Hirts Gardens who sent me my buried treasure huckleberry for cheap but they no longer seem to sell them? I like Nourse Farms too. They are just more limited and shipping is expensive there. I bought mulberry from Whitman Farms. They produced first season after I got them in the fall which was nice. Pretty abundant to mind you. Native Foods Nursery I have mixed results with but they have mentioned more since the time I got mixed results and the mixed result was sent in July. Grow Organic Peaceful Valley I am not a big fan of because even though they send big trees their trees look beat up compared to other nurseries trees and I have only had 2/6 survival from them and the fact that they send in January. January works well for those in more tropical area but I am still having trouble getting access to some of my north side planting areas now so December is a horrible time to send trees to me. Those are the online nurseries I remember of note to me and my reviews of them.
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If you want to know what I mean by Grow Organic Peaceful Valley sending big trees but being slightly unsightly I will post a few pictures. Here is my trees from them that I got from them 3 years ago. One you just see a part that may have just been pruning but overall looks good. The other is a Rainier that came with a gash that continues to grow as the diameter grows
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You suppose GOPV plants are ‘beat up’ because they don’t use traditional packaging or something?
I ordered these plants in the 2019 into the 2020 season. They were my first trees other than the mulberry. It was also one of my first posts here trying to find the issue with the dead ones. Mamuang claimed they would be short lived in the post. They still live 3 years later. At least back then they used the same packaging everyone else seems to use. That is they sent them in a big box with a bag of sawdust around the roots. The only differences is most nursery will either determine shipping time up to a certain point of time or the nursery will often choose a later shipping time than they send it at. Bay Laurel only allows up to March shipping time and Stark Bros started shipping to me in March as with the Zestar! apples shown above. Raintree, Cummins, Burnt Ridge and Trees Of Antiquity will ship around April to here. One Green World sent things in April last year but a email they sent when combining orders suggested they may send it in March this year. So the shipping time is earlier than everyone else with grow organic. Another thing grow organic claims is they prune the trees. At least back when I bought from them they claimed that.
Kriegers Nursery- Sent wrong plants- refund given.
Pense Nursery- Sent me wrong plants. Sent me correct ones much later.
One Green World… plants all lived.
HoneyberryUSA- two plants damaged in shipping… likely wont live. I am not going to ask for a refund as they are showing some sign of life and they are pretty nice people…
Hartmanns- received 3 damaged plants which resulted in them dying. I sent an email and never have heard anything back…no biggie.
Cumberland Valley Nursery- didnt get an email or phone call or anything…the trees just showed up and i wasnt expecting them… but they were super cheap and they all lived… and are thriving… so im happy.
Stark Bros- a couple of bare root plants arrived DOA… no big deal i will propagate them myself.
Raintree- Two plants were rootbound and had been for a long time… roots were crisp from no soil just water. One died and the other is barely alive… they refunded me for one plant and took the plant off the website… so it was legit.
Burnt Ridge- everything lived.
39th Parallel Nursery- everything i have bought from him is alive and doing well.
Shrubs and Trees Depot- confirmed they are TyTy. I got sent thornless blackberries when i ordered thorned ones same as when i ordered from TyTy years ago. Talked to the guy on the phone…same guy as i talked to at TyTy… probably will end up being wild blackberries.
Willis Orchard- I hate them. Liars and thieves. I would rather buy from Tyty.
Simmons Plant Farm- Sent me wrong plants… they made it right and sent me the correct ones.
Bay Laurel Nursery-- everything lived.
Ebay- Everything i have ordered has arrived in great shape and better than most nurseries.
Etsy- same as Ebay…
In conclusion- if im being honest the best plants and experience has been with Ebay and Etsy. Both of them are one click shopping as well and the communication function works. Tracking is emailed to me and no muss no fuss. I even made a couple of friends on there and we trade stuff.
I will likely do my small nursery on Ebay or Etsy… it just works.
I have gotten the wrong plants from many well known nurseries this year… it was easy to show them because the tags even showed the wrong names. So pure lack of attention on their parts.
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Ebay and Etsy are like the Wild West when it comes to sellers. I have found jewels on there and I have found turds on those as well. Sometimes you just get a deal on EBay or Etsy but I have also gotten ripped off and had to file claims on EBay. If you get ripped off EBay is virtually useless. On Etsy I have bought ornaments that looked amazing and would normally cost 200 dollars for something similar but only cost 45 dollars and had free shipping (custom needlepoint projects cost around 200-300 by start to finish). Other times things looked super worn compared to pictures. I have gotten better Christmas items from garage sells for 25 cents than what some of these people were charging 8-10 dollars on. Again those pictures did not show the wear and tear on some of these items. I got a butternut tree and it was half the size of my G Bush butternut seedling from Burnt Ridge and way more expensive. I think the issue with a lot of nurseries now is they are overwhelmed with demand. I know this year just planting them all was exhausting for me and was my evening plans for 2 weeks because of the amount. I can’t imagine packing all those trees. Once I started looking at tags with so many trees I started to get confused and that was just with what I bought. So I can certainly see how it happens. Particularly with miltigrafted trees.
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i have had good luck buying from esty and hirts. if you arent expecting big plants for the cheap price you paid, they are a great bargain. just bought a Colombia star blackberry for $23 shipped. the big nurseries wanted that plus $25 to ship. who the hecks going to pay nearly $50 for 1 blackberry? even $23 is alot but its one i wanted to trial and esty had it for half the price.
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The issue I have had with brambles and online nurseries is they charge so much to ship. I understand paying 30 dollars shipping for a tree or bush but brambles should cost 5-7 dollars to send
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It can be done via pirateship for about 7-8, but not with the labor and packaging added in. 23 actually seems like a good value for the human aspect involved with shipping a single plant.
That’s too bad. I was quite pleased with the plants they sent me. Maybe it was the type I ordered and my very low expectations?
I got raspberries (I ordered 24 and they sent me 15 extras!). I was expecting the raspberries to little bareroot things, but they actually had quite a nice root ball and most had a bit of cane that started to get some leaves pretty quickly. Out of all of those only 2 died - I think likely in the first week (and I was not terribly kind to them).
I also got four 4" fig trees. They were in good shape when they arrived, but I fear I may have accidently killed them (fingers crossed that they lived).
I was hardening them off to prepare to plant them outside. They looked healthy and had some leaf buds swelling. I left them on my porch and fell asleep- we had a sudden cold snap that night. I scratched one with my nail today and the cambium was green, but I don’t know if they’ll leaf out…
(This late cold snap after the warm spell has made me feel like an evil plant killer!! I have two very large mulberries that I think died and several other trees around my property. Sorry, this is getting quite confessional now!)
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USPS first class shipping goes up to 13 oz and is 5-7 dollars retail price. Likely even cheaper with pirate ship. The mailer will be 2-3 dollars. Tape likely costs cents per package. That is 7-10 dollars to ship. If concerned about calculations seller can go with a priority padded envelope for 10 dollars and something cents which allows you to use priority supplies like tape and you get priority service speed. Labor is always factored into cost of the product. At least most businesses I have seen factor the labor into the product. They should not be putting labor costs into shipping. Besides labor costs go down once you account for the fact they are likely shipping hundreds or thousands of packages at once. You can typically tell who has a business selling because they will walk in with a bin or trash bag full of items. At that point labor is not that high because you are either paying someone to stick some bramble stems in a padded envelope and mass printing labels or you are mass printing at the post office with existing packaging done. If a Etsy seller can charge 10 dollars or less for shipping so can a nursery. It is that the nursery is using expensive services like UPS or FEDEX opposed to offering cost effective shipping services like USPS.
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I think I got some buried treasure huckleberry from Hartmans. Some liked and some died but it was something like in the teens of dollars for something like 9 buried treasure huckleberry. They used a flat rate mailer and charged actual prices for shipping so it was quite reasonable.
Yes, I also paid VERY reasonable rates for the plants and the shipping. So reasonable, that even though I might have killed my figs I’m considering ordering more!
My plants showed up via USPS in a box with crinkled brown butcher paper for padding. There were large plastic bags, each with 10+ plants laying on their sides inside them, which kept them from drying out. The plants were in good condition despite their 5 day travel. I am on a rural route and my post can be a bit slow. I was able to track them the whole way though because I got the shipping notification!
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In my experience it is not the rural that makes things slow. It is if it gets sent somewhere wrong or if it does not get processed somewhere at the locational plant. A good example was I had mugs sent to me because we broke our mug. The seller sent it quickly and on time but it was around 2 weeks delayed because it sat at the post office for 2 days each and was sent to 3 wrong places in Texas before moving to CO. I am city. The only time rural gets delayed is if they cannot hire people for that location because no one wants to head up there or it is a manual office with a PSE gig. My first post office I was a PSE and the only employee there. The customers who had been there just got used to people moving on because they would either quit (most non career employees quit in their first 80 or 90 days according to studies) or they would get a career gig and move on. Career is important because that is when Postal employees start earning pensions, contributing the the government form of a 401k with a 5% match and they get good health insurance for cheap. The world opens up to Postal employees and actually only starts counting in pension years once you become career. For that reason areas that rely on PSE often get shafted and mail can get delayed. The other reason is like the second post office I worked at. They hired career employees but no carriers wanted to drive up there because of the dangerous conditions and the amount of mail and packages was crazy and not doable with the amount of staffing they had. They intended to get rid of staff and actually ended up cutting all the full time positions in that location hoping 2 part time career employees could do it. Why management thought they could do that when they expected 2 full time employees and a part time employee to work 10 hour shifts already and things still were not getting done I don’t know. But this office was around 10 miles away from town with 1 road going up and down it. This city ran between 8-10k feet above sea level so weather was horrible. As a result no one took the job and mail got delayed. They tried to violate union contract a deny vacation bids to not delay mail but more people either quit or just filed grievances and won so it just delayed mail even more if anything.
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Also our plant in the Denver location is struggling to get people which may be delaying mail too. I have had mail be delayed due to a late or non existing truck and have heard other people complain about it as an employee. In Denver’s case no one wants to pay 5 dollars a week for the privilege to sit in a boat load of traffic and work in a city that either looks horrible and poor or pay for parking in the good areas. That is another reason for delayed mail. If you move to Colorado and want to get a job in Denver I strongly encourage to live in a suburb of Denver and work in a place that is no located in Denver because Denver is just sad. Nothing is good about it. That is why no one wants to work there and all our mail gets delayed.
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