I’ve seen comments about Stark Bros not disclosing the rootstock to customers. That practice has always been a little annoying, but sometimes they have certain trees that other companies do not. Before I ordered this tree I reached out to customer service ahead of time to ask them the rootstock and of course I was told they don’t disclose that. I found it very funny that the tree comes with a tag that shows its on OHxF 333.
Thought I’d share with you.
Olympic Asian Pear “Dwarf”
I get frustrated at SB as well that they do not tell us, the customer, what rootstock you are actually getting. I have written to them more than once. All they will tell me is what it MAY be not what it actually is. I do not think it would be that difficult to put the rootstock info on the tree, as they did with your pear tree.
Pretty sure they likely order surplus root stock on the cheap. They probably do not know until they place their order. Would not be surprised if they own a seedling grow out operation as well.
I could be wrong, but I thought Stark Bros gives commercial orders the choice of rootstocks and small orders get filled with whatever is left over. Basically, they give commercial customers the priority right up to the end.
I just did a search of my old bookmarks and found this old thread from the Gardenweb days. It’s old and incomplete, but shows how much of a game of chance it has always been. Stark’s misleading tree sizes & their rootstocks
You are correct. For some reason one time I asked Stark Bros about the rootstocks they use for their apple trees. They sent me a commercial growers list of all their tree stock with all their inventory and rootstocks. So it looks like the commercial end of their sales can pick the rootstocks they prefer.
The Superior dwarf plum they sent me years ago was on Citation, and I regretted not getting the semi-dwarf rootstock. It struggled every year to outgrow the deer.
The old Starks is gone, it’s operation dwindled in size and competence for many years. A new outfit bought it maybe 10 years or more, basically a shell of a company. Horticulturist friend of mine went over there, untrained illegals (he asked) doing the grunt work. Packing house a messy disaster. Not very knowledgeable people running things.
About that time I ordered maybe 25 apple trees for a non- critical project. One tree missing, the only pear ‘Maxie’ was dead and moldy. Some trees had labels from other companies. Got money back on my credit card from the 2 bad/missing trees, the other tree’s did great, very healthy with nice size and leaped into strong growth. So it was a total “crap-shoot”.
I think many prefer to run wholesale nurseries and no longer deal with the public in general. That has created a big opening for companies who are more aggregators of wholesales stocks more then traditional big nurseries. If they can buy a brand name for cover the better. And we have the big outfits we sometimes hear complaints about.
Partly also why I can walk in Rural King and find better then half their fruit trees will not blossom much here. They are just moving stock like big stores do.
On the flip side; this better knowledge of trees lets you pick the best growable bargains when clearance sales start.
I bought a few columnar trees from them that never amounted to squat, & (1) Liberty, then I stopped with their trees. Too high priced, small, & no rootstock disclosure.
Now I occasionally buy a berry plant or something, but only if it’s actually a good deal. Mostly, I just ignore them now…
I always look at the size at the bottom of the description. If its 10-18 ft. Its some kind of semi- dwarf rootstalk. If its under 10 ft, itll be some dward rootstalk. I highly doubt its a seedling operation. Whereas you wouldnt know the exact species and the trees would b be sold as 20 ft +. They just dont want to give away their secrets. But its annoying for sure. Im in hot humid Oklahoma, and our clay soils with tons of rain, heat and humidity make certain rootstalks impossible.
The info about the height helps , however, some rootstocks have issues that make having them a pain to deal with. That’s why, for me, I prefer to know what rootstock the fruit tree is on. Saves from having to deal with those issues later on. I have a heck of a time with the M7’s for instance. If the apple tree is on that rootstock they will eventually lean over. So much so that they will actually fall over. So I prefer to know what " semi - dwarf" rootstock the apple is on regardless of height. It may be 10’-12’ tall but it is also 10’-12’ on the ground to try and put back up and support. Uggg
Thank you for the thread. I was wondering why I never ordered from them and the roots seemed to complicated and proprietary.
