Cummins does do fall shipping about every year to folks in the south. Already have received an email from them that my order will be shipped 11/20.
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So much was said about Willis Orchard on this forum (and elsewhere), I’m not going to retype it here. Just use the search button for “Willis Orchard” and read for yourself.
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Geez…I really don’t want to know…It’s just two PAWPAW…Hopefully all will be fine…
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You got me confused. 
They likely will be mislabeled but no worries — the plants will be so tiny and puny and arrive so late, they probably will die anyway.
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Great…Sorry, that was a bit confusing. Changed my mind quickly. Ha…LOL…Well…I’ll just have to see. I’ll return for my money back if they aren’t up to snuff…I suppose…
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If I remember correctly, they don’t give refunds, only credit for future orders.
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Geez…I’ll be more careful and make sure I check here before buying like that again. I always have bought from Stark and had great luck. Willis Has more mature trees supposedly that is why i went with them…
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Huh. I ordered four trees from Cummins, tried to get them sent in the fall, and they told me they could only send one, but the other three would have to come in the spring. And if I wanted them that way, I’d have to pay double shipping fees.
Based on my experience, I would say Cummins may be able to ship in the fall, but don’t bet on it. Or maybe I just had an atypical experience. Dunno.
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I’ve planted several bare root trees in late fall nov-dec without troubles. Look at the wildlife group for varieties of apples, crabs, plums, and pears.
Zone 7 for reference.
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You should not hesitate to promote what you are doing. I grew up in Upstate, went to school in Geneva, near the agricultural field station, and now have a small orchard in the Napa Valley. And reading about what you do in Spencer at your website makes me want to support your farm, family, calling and business. Please keep at it and please keep sharing your success.
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[quote=“dutch-s, post:27, topic:12198, full:true”]
Geez…I’ll be more careful and make sure I check here before buying like that again. I always have bought from Stark and had great luck. Willis Has more mature trees supposedly that is why i went with them…
[/quote]Sending out the wrong variety is the main problem with them, I myself bought from them knowing what is wrong with them, after reading the complaints because I figured that if I bought something from them that was under patent that they’d likely get the order right and they did. They were the only nursery that had what I wanted in stock, I got some great trees from them. I hope you luck out.
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Dutch,
If you have not known it yet, before you buy from any on line nursery, please google Scoop on + the name of the nursery. For example, when you google Scoop on Willis Orchard, a garden watchdog called Dave’s Garden will show the results of any positive/negative/neutral reviews of Willis nursery.
If the nursery is not too obscure, it’ll show up on Dave’s Garden. The reviews are for the last 12 months and you can look further to see its history, too.
A nursery like TyTy, at one time, was the worst. Generally speaking, Willis has not had good track records. Mislabeled trees are not bad, all things considered. It could turn into a really good variety if you are lucky. A worse situation is when ill-reputed nurseries send you a plum tree when you order an apple tree or send you a diseased or dying tree with a lousy refund policy.
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Thank you everyone for the advice. I will be much more careful and check these guys closer in the future. These websites can look so good and sound so believable it is easy to get duped if not careful. MAMUANG, I will keep that sight and be sure to use it in the future. I will say I got a few bad trees from Stark but they took care of everything immediately with absolutely no issue . I have found other sights that have plants i am more interested in and am going to be doing some ordering. I am glad this happened …really…It will keep me more aware and on my toes all the time. I just hate having to do things twice and possibly being in a fight with a sight…This is good in the end. Thanks everyone.
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Okay, glad I wasn’t the only one with questions about planting times and shipping. I was trying to get trees from Adams County Nursery. Spoke to someone at the company and they don’t ship in the fall. I received an email about what trees they have available for the spring and it varies greatly from what they have on their website. For example, they will only have two apricot varieties compared with the 10 they list online. I went to Cummins Nursery’s site and they say to check back later about fall shipping, but when you put items in the cart the only option is for spring shipping.
I’m hesitant to order from One Green World or Raintree because they are all the way across the country and it seems like the climate variances would make a difference.
The one positive about not getting trees in the fall is that I can get my family to order them for me for Christmas!
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Thanks for the subject Jim. this actually helped me a lot…
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I should have clarified that from my 5 years of ordering from Cummins, they offer fall shipping on the apple and pear trees they grow themselves.
They have told me most of their peach trees come from other nurseries and are only sold in the spring. Pretty sure you can only buy rootstock from them in the spring as well.
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Jim,
Do not worry about ordering from west coast nurseries. There several good nurseries in the west coast particularly Oregon and Washington State that offer fruit trees including including Raintree, One Green World, Burntridge, Whitman, etc.
You just need to check when they will send you bare root trees, spring or fall. If it’s spring, how early, etc. Many of us order from them regularly.
If you want to read the list of recommended nurseries, please check this forum’s Reference section.
To access the Reference section, up on the top right corner of this page, you’ll see three short lines next to your Avatar/Handle name.
Click on the three-line symbol, the whole list on the forum’s categories will show up.
Click on Reference.
List of nurseries, berry vendors, supplies and scionwood sources are in the Reference section.
It’s worth your time to check those out.
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Thanks Mamuang. I will check it out.
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I ordered 2 apples, a Rubinette and a Gold Rush, and 2 pears, a Harrow Sweet and a Ubileen. They said the Ubileen was the only one they could send me in the fall. I told them if it was just a caliper issue, I didn’t care if they sent the trees small. No, they said, the only one they could send was the Ubileen.
I’m just mystified we both had such different experiences at Cummins. Still, I think the takeaway is that it never hurts to ask.
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VSOP, I don’t even see Harrow Sweet on the Cummins website. Where did you see it?
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