Thank You, I saw something I like to buy, not too expensive.
They got my business this year, I ordered a few trees, a Hood pear, a Chorujo, a Cox Orange Pippin, and 2 raspberry plants. Bonus is I found Nicole Carol Miller rose, a fragrant lavender rose I’ve been wanting to buy.
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The problem is that if you price them too low you are contributing to that buyer expectation. It is also a disservice to small nurseries that are affected by that devaluation. Heck there is a price point where cheaper doesn’t even mean more sales, those looking for plants do have a strong price anchoring tendency, but those who are not will not buy them just because they are cheaper.
The approach that has worked for me is variety, specially with oddball berries. Almost nobody makes a trip to specifically pick up a gooseberry, but if they are getting a saskatoon and there is a pretty gooseberry batting an eye at them, there is a good chance they get it. If you have goji, purple leaf sand cherry, or grapes, even better.
Heck often I make more money from other plants than the ones they came to get.
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Actually if someone grafts 1,000 per year and GIVES them all away, God bless 'em.
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Yes i agree people do things because they are good people with no financial expectation. Most of us do that more like with 10 or 100 things than a thousand as thats more in line with what we can afford. It is not wrong to make a profit on customers or give some of it away to those who need it. Best point in the entire topic in my opinion.
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ive been sticking spring pruning’s of my bush/ cane fruit in some cheap soil to root them and put them on the roadside in late summer for free. i probably could get $5 a piece but it cost me so little and ive made alot of new friends doing it. they will usually come talk to me to find out what the fruit is like and how to care for them. its my little way of giving back to the community. grafted trees though require more work and care so i will charge for them.
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Raintree is also a example of a nursery that is expensive and a persimmon is a example of a expensive plant. I made two posts here about Raintree last year. The first was when I saw how much their price jumped and then the second one was when they raised prices again. I don’t recommend them as highly because I have had less success with them and they are more expensive. I have orders in with them because they are the only sellers or the only ones who seem to have certain plants in stock. What I will say is my cascade pear I bought from them at first came dead (it was brown with a scratch test and had a black tag on it while my other trees did not), the second cascade tree the tree leaves turned black as one of my posts here. Most said it looked like some kind of insect burrowed into it and triggered things like pear decline so clearly they did not spray that tree or whoever sold it did not spray it with dormant oil. The thimbleberry I got from them I am pretty sure is dead. The other items seem to be thriving from them at least like the marionberry, prime arch freedom blackberries, Comice pear and Warren pear. Another reason I am do reluctant is they are the only nursery to cut me off on canceling items. I get canceling returns or claims on items but if I cancel before it is shipped I should be able to cancel. Like I said no other nursery or business has done that to me. My grandma returns everything non stop and no business has done that to her so to me customer service is lacking, item quality is hit or miss and items are double the cost at Raintree.
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Also if you want Raintree Nursery’s best stuff you have to order really early. The first week of July a 10% presale goes on with Raintree and they put their fruit trees for presale. Their 4 in 1 pluot trees sold out that first week, their flavor punch pluerry is already sold out too. They only have 20 something Weeping Santa Rosa plum left, 43 ambassador walnut left and it is September. Like I said Raintree sells out fast. If they can continue to sell this fast at these prices they could likely raise prices even higher and Raintree seems to have done that with some of their items. Some of their combination cherries are now 100 dollars.
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I cut one of 4x1 pluot down last year. In the past I bought trees from them because they were reasonable, but they did send trees late, I sometime had to remind them to send me my trees. I’m done ordering anything with them, so glad I overbought trees and plants before this pandemic, now I don’t have to buy if prices are not reasonable.
I am about to the point I am maxed out myself. I hear about x tree or x bush on this site and have to tell myself I am maxed out and cannot keep buying them.
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So I took a look at Home Depot today. $39.99 for their trees. Most appeared to be about 5-6 feet tall and already branched out with scaffolds ready to choose. For that price I am planning to wait for them to go on sale and grab some Wolf River and a peach to experiment with top working next year.
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Very true, at half off you get yourself a good tree at a reasonable price (if the employees have kept it watered and not stressed it too much).
Few weeks back i bought some cresthaven peaches from Illinois (they were still in the box and it was labeled with variety). So i plan on growing those out and it’ll be the next variety i try. Basically free trees if you can grow them out. Peaches are pretty easy from seed.
You”ll save on shipping charge if you buy from Home depot . This is why I prefer cheap trees, I paid $36 for shipping today for 5-6 plants.
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Yes, but peaches from seed often are ping pong ball sized.
Usually taste ok though…and make good rootstocks if you don’t like their fruit.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy to support all the online nurseries offering good things. But if I can get a 4 year old pre-grafted tree for like 20 bucks in a pot, I’ll jump on it.
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One thing i’ve done with apple seedlings in the past is grow them out and take wood as soon as you can and bud that to a mature tree. i suppose you could do the same with stonefruit. Good way to save space and if its garbage, nothing a pruner won’t fix.
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I honestly wonder how much I have in trees and bushes in my yard and how much I spent on shipping. Like someone else said in this thread shipping can be as much as the plant itself. It is not unheard of to pay 30 something dollars for shipping now days for 1 tree. I remember on my Raintree order I ordered 7 or 8 trees and it was something like 77 dollars in shipping. Looked at my bank account after paying that in July and thought oh I paid more than expected. Trees were 50-60 each but shipping all together with the trees I bought was likely over 100 dollars.
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That’s the part I don’t like. Not only I pay for expensive trees, then shipping. Well this year I will save money with dirt, I’m recycling my clay/dirt. Maybe it will help somewhat to ease the pain, lol.
But every year I want to buy something to support people in this business and they make it hard.
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My 2 jujube trees from Home Depot are doing much better than the same varieties I got from Rain tree nursery.
I also got 4x1 plums from Home Depot and they’re giving me fruit unlike 4x1 pluot from Raintree nursery.
So if they have it’s a great deal.
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Slim pickins haha. I think Wolf River (which I “need” anyway), McIntosh, Some Georgia peach (Scott said he didn’t prefer it vs another similar variety), and Santa Rosa? plum. I’d jump on a jujube at the current pricing if it was available.
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