You gave me a good laugh there @elivings1. I’ve always worked just 40 hours. Same with my husband. One time at JPL they made a not nice remark about me not coming in the weekend for overtime, I had a kid younger than 2, it’s impossible for me to do that, so I left that job for more 50% increase in pay within 6 months.
My husband was the same. Some guy at his work called him to work on weekend, our kids were young at the time, he didn’t come in. He still did more than ok there because he came from a culture of working 35 hours a week.
But I appreciate your long hours at USPS, I often took my time to thank our post office guy, especially during the pandemic when everybody was so worrying about touching packages with virus.
Regarding trees, I refuse to pay for high prices, however I don’t mind paying between $30-$40 a tree, like I did a few years ago, but now with the high prices, I’m into grafting, maybe more rewarding experience, just to show people that I won’t spend more than I think it’s necessary even if I can afford it.
To be honest even I have had to take a step back. I now work 48 through 50 something hours a week outside the holiday season. There was a time there for about a half a year I worked 10-13 hour days for 6 days a week. There was paychecks I made over 4k in a two week pay period but it was hard for the health. My parents are and were a workaholic. My mother still wakes up to work at 7 AM and sometimes goes to 1 or 2 AM writing reports during the busy time of the year. My dad dropped me off at 6 or 7 AM and picked me up past 6 PM from daycare as a kid. My mother just had family watch me. I guess it is no surprise that myself and my sister also turned into workaholics to an extent. It is also why I see people like our new PTF in our office going to work and taking a lunch to take the kid to school and saying they need to get out for their kid as kind of lazy. The PTF says I don’t understand because I don’t have a kid and that it is a legal issue but like I said my parents seemed to do just fine working long hours. It’s taking a toll on my mother as she is getting older though. She just can’t do what she used to. Counting the years until she can retire.
I’ve had cherry grafts fail when I thought I did everything just right. So don’t be surprised if yours don’t work. It takes a lot of experience to know why. What I’d say is watch as many videos as you can before trying yours. A lot has to do with the timing as much as technique.
Lately I’ve done a lot of fig grafting. Figs are pretty easy.
This old thread may have something you can use in it Sweet cherry grafts . Takes some practice but i think you will have good luck with your cherry grafts. Stone fruits like apricots really step it up a level.
Things are only “too expensive” when people refuse to pay the cost.
I recall the first LCD TV I bought in 2008. It was right around $1400 for a 36" TV. Now, I see 70"+ TVs in Walmart every week for less than half what I paid back then.
Supply and demand works when gooberments don’t interfere
Thanks Clark, my rootstocks are supposed to come by early April, hopefully that isn’t took late, This year I remember the cherry blooms opened up around the 20th, I am doing sour cherry btw.
Yeah I may have mentioned that to many people, I was going back and forth on whether to buy a ready tree or graft, sorry it’s just my favorite variety of favorite fruit
State nursery sales open today for those looking for low prices on pawpaw, persimmon, serviceberry, nut trees, etc… I think Kentucky is already open for persimmons and sold out of pawpaws.
Have you received any of those fruit trees? https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/2281/#b
These are their reviews: neutrals 68 negatives 28 positives 11
I agree if it came down to me taking my chances with them or spending $160 i would buy from them. They would send something and im not paying the other guys even $50 for a fruit tree. Rather than do that i would buy rootstocks even cheaper and graft them myself.
However i think a person could make sense of filling a trailer full of them and growing them out for a year or so.
1000 trees for $1500… Could easily bring $20K on ebay/etsy. Is that price gouging?
I have bought from Vaughn and Willis Orchards… even TyTy … they all sell certain things that are very hard to find and cheap. I think im at around 50/50 in what lives and what dies from them…
I am looking for an O’Henry peach still. i bought 2 from Vaughn and they both died. I probably should have potted them up for a year and babied them. My other options are $50-$100 per tree… cheapskate in me is going to try Vaughn again i think…at $10/tree.
$20 is reasonable so if you spend an investment and turn a profit thats smart. Price gouging is if i buy rootstocks for $1 use my pear scion wood and graft them and sell them to anyone fearing starvation for $160 after i grew them out 3 months. Would never sleep at night again i would feel so guily for those ill gotten gains. Thats legal robbery not supply and demand. I know property tax , labor, and shipping are higher but that much?
I think Gurneys is the standard of what people think that a fruit tree/plant should cost.
$40 seems to be ‘fair’
I admit that if i saw a healthy O’Henry peach tree locally for $40 i would not have buyer remorse…because i want it and its kinda hard to find.
Bob Wells Nursery which i have bought from is smart. If you buy from their website a tree is $40. However they have an Amazon store and the same tree is $100.
If you think fruit trees are expensive… how about 6 peaches for $35 plus shipping? With great reviews.
It might be good to make a list of who is still relatively inexpensive. Last I recall Mehrabyan and White Oak were still in the $20 range, and Vaughn was less than that.
I placed an order with Mehrabyan last year and was really surprised with the caliper size and quality of the trees they sent me for the price. Got a few apples and nectarines from them and all of the trees have done well establishing for me so far.
I would hope somebody fearing starvation has better uses for $160…
Honestly, it is a self inflicted wound if you choose to pay $160 for a tree. Just to put things in perspective; I grafted 3 honey crisp apples this year and all 3 took. Fast forward two month, I spotted a very large potted honey crisp for $125 and I bought it. The (semi) instant gratification of bringing the tree into production earlier was worth it to me. Plus I really like supporting local small nurseries.
I did sell my grafted honey crisps for $30 a pop, so after expenses I’m about $55 into that honey crisp. Then again I also grafted and keeping Alma Sweet, Trailman, and Zestar, so even with the potted honey crisp my average price per tree goes way down.
