What's the scoop on... Before you order trees

For berry plants I try to buy from Nourse or Indiana Berry as the canes are usually bigger than pencil size, and you get a decent plant that will for sure fruit soon. I just bought three black currants from Indiana and they are huge plants, super nice. I bought one from Honeyberry which I still like, but the plant is so small I’m worried it will struggle. it is super small. Yet the only nursery I see carries Tiben black currant. Which could be possibly one of the best currants around. A hybrid of red and black, with production greater than any common black currant. Now if I can keep it alive! It is mostly black currant, they just changed the genes up introducing red and flowering currant genes into the hybrid. It is rust resistant, and very vigorous with double the production of some black currants. it is considered a black currant. A Polish cultivar, one of many excellent Polish cultivars. A whole series of these currants exist, I have not seen any others, else I would buy them!

I have yet ever to receive a mislabeled tree, but I have less than 20 trees.

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Starks nursery, except not knowing root stock. Grandpas was nice and Orange Pippin nice too.

cityman … you’re exactly right.

heh heh … re berry plants … a couple of years ago I ordered some Thornless Boysenberries and they were neither.
Tiny black berries smaller than raspberries but with a core and killer thorns.
I sent the nursery a picture and they said they had no idea what they were.
Now THOSE I had no compunction tearing out but they spread so prolifically I’m still pulling some out.

It also takes some time to know that you have a mislabeled tree. It is usually 2-3 years until the first fruit is produced. Then, unless it is very different (large red vs small russet, etc), you aren’t sure that it was conditions or abnormal behavior in it’s first year. I’ve received at least 3-4 mislabels. At this point, I just use it as an opportunity to make a multi-graft tree on an established rootstock.

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Yes I do have a few that could be wrong, From Grandpa’s though, probably are true. I have some cornelian cherry trees that have yet to fruit but no doubt they are cornus mas, a very distinctive looking tree.