Hey there,
I’m a new grower interested in planting new fruits plants/trees. I stumbled across this pretty well known fruit nursery called Willis Orchard Co. What are your takes on this nursery? Also I live in long island NY
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Stay away from Willis if possible.
Here’s one of the threads about Willis Orchard.
https://growingfruit.org/t/willis-orchards-response-to-me-getting-the-wrong-tree/5259.
Here is the thread about nursery list. It is in the Reference category of this forum…
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Often sends mislabeled trees. For example, I ordered a Winesap apple tree, they sent me a tree that had all the characteristics of a Gravenstein apple tree.
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Do you know if they just mislabeled it or is the tree you got completely different from the one you ordered?
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The tree that I got produced apples that were sweet whereas Winesap apples are sour. Also, the color and shape of the apples matched the appearance of the pictures of Gravenstein apple. And then the size of the tree after it matured was huge for a semi-dwarf apple tree, which further proved it to be a Gravenstein apple tree. Gravenstein trees are large. Winesap trees are more normal size.
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That is the exact same thing. Sending the wrong tree on purpose or mistake still results in spending time, energy and space growing a variety you didnt intend on.
Have a look at the nursery list provided. Dozens of highly reputable growers on there with proven customer service.
Also, welcome.
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Willis and TyTy and any nursery with a physical location in Georgia is likely part of the same network of nurseries that have a license to commit Fraud on Americans with impunity.
It takes a couple or few years to figure out that they defrauded you and by that time there is nothing that you can legally do.
I have busted them both out on absolute Fraud… and there is literally nothing i can do about it.
since you say ‘pretty well known’ just type Wills Orchard into any search function of any of the big social media fruit growing groups… or this group, or houzz or any respectable forum and you will see the decades of Fraud.
How did you stumble onto this pretty well known nursery?
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Any orchard that is using this kind of legal language on their website has obviously gone down the legal road before. The wording about jurisdiction and legal precident reads just like a brief from a civil case. That should be a huge red flag. I’ll pass on ordering from them.
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They stay pretty busy keeping up with the complaints… also its pretty obvious that they likely do millions of dollars in sales per year… enough to hire their own lawyers.
Its the clearest case of legalized fraud that exists in our current system… no other industry could possibly get away with this level of fraud for as long as they or TyTy have.
https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/comments.php?compid=6348&offset=0
My most recent purchase from them was for a cane fruit called Black Butte. It is a trailing variety from the PNW. It is also unavailable to be sold by any other vendor in the USA. The plants arrived and were as erect as any Kiowa that you could imagine. I sent them pictures of the wrong product. They told me that it must have been a mistake and that they would ship me the correct ones in a few weeks. By purchasing it in advance of shipping i lost all hope of a chargeback on my card. I talked to my bank and they said there was nothing that i could do except for file a case with them in Georgia.
Long story short…they are still selling Black Butte to anyone that wants to buy them but you will get Kiowa which is the polar opposite of a PNW berry. That is fraud.
I filed a chargeback regardless which shut down my own card… and didnt even blip their radar in the slightest.
They are blanketed in immunity with their current system as far as i can tell.
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Isons and bottoms nursery are both in Georgia and have good reputation.
I believe Tyty also used the name Aaron’s nursery so avoid that one too
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also add Prepper Gardens and the newest one Shrubs and Trees Depot…which is doing amazingly well and defrauding at new levels.
Agree on Isons…they are good and honest.
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Any reputable business doesnt need to change their name every year. Lots of great places to buy from without messing with these jokers. Thanks for the heads up on the other names they are using.
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Hey I was looking up fruit nurseries and lo and behold Willis Orchard Company was at the very top of the search results
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I’m stuck with Tyty for a credit from 4 failed trees. At least I got store credit. So I ordered from that and I’ll get what I get.
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I almost was going to order from them last year, they did come up in the top of the search results. Luckily I did more googling to verify.
i have never had an issue with ordering from them. Everything i got was what i ordered and i like that i can order larger trees. Miss labeling is an industry wide problem, they aren’t the only ones who have that issue. I had the issue with Stark Brothers (i did get a satisfactory resolution from them) so I don’t see any nursery as being immune to it. Willis is down in the south east, so take that into consideration too. I can’t order from Raintree as their shipping times do not work for the trees to get to me at the proper planting time. so if you are in the PNW, this probably isn’t a good nursery to order from.
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Having said that about west coast nurseries, I got 3 plum trees from Raintree late (received May 15th which is pretty late for the SE).
They were in transit for 13 days including almost 4 days sitting in new Orleans somewhere. Shipping issues not the nursery.
The trees were in great shape and had not broken dormancy. They are happy in their new home.
In contrast the trees I got from Tyty on a much shorter shipping and earlier shipment arrives with no visible buds. They were either mechanically rubbed off or desiccated and fell off. 4 of those 6 trees never broke dormancy and died.
So although a risk for their shipping schedule and long travel, good nurseries from across the country with well grown and handled trees can still provide a good product.
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Like i have said earlier they and TyTy make millions of dollars per year and can afford lawyers as well as paid advertising on search engines.
Who wouldnt want to grow black raspberries that are the same size and identical as blackberries?
It takes the average backyard fruit tree grower what…3-5 years to figure out if their tree is incorrect? 2 years give or take to figure out if the berry plants are incorrect. Then what? How do you get a refund 3 years after you purchase something?
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Just wondering if you could describe your experience with Prepper Gardens. I feel like they have suspiciously low prices similar to Willis
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