If you found this video helpful, please "Like" and share it to help extend its reach! Thanks for watching 😃TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 3 Ways To Buy Fruit Trees 0:32 Option #1 - Garden Centers 3:02 Option #2 - A Better Selection 6:05 Option #3 - My Favorite Option! 8:36 The Downside To This Plant Shopping Method 12:45 Adventures With Dale
@@TheMillennialGardener No I don't, we use to buy them every year until a couple years ago now we can't find any no where's. I'm from Haywood county NC but live in South Carolina for the past 20 years, those beans only grow to around 14 to 16 inches tall and they produce tons of beans and they are really good
@@shirleytruett7319 I'm from Asheville, try looking for pink half runners. I did a search for "bush beans that are called peanut beans". Places showed up in search that you can buy from. Hope that helps. My advice is to by the heirloom. Last year I bought the old timey Greasy Cut Shorts green beans from someone in Canton, NC. They did wonderful. I now live in Tennessee. Hope this helps.
I live in Los Angeles, last year in January I was at Lowe's poking around and I saw some triple grafted (3 varieties) dwarf apple trees for $35. I didn't think any apples would grow around here. I immediately googled the varieties listed on the tags and they all were warm climate fruits, so I bought it. Right now it's about 4 feet tall and has 20 apples growing on it. They are small but the first ones tasted good and I was glad I bought it. Every fruit tree I see at Lowe's is good for this climate,,, I check a lot even though I have no more room, I also recently bought a dwarf hass avocado tree at Home Depot. I was waiting for that to come around,,, and it did. A lot of great trees are not legal for shipment to California,, that's a bummer too.
Home Depot here near Seattle sells ungrafted Meyer lemon, Washington navel, and key lime. When in my opinion it would be better if they sold grafted versions on cold tolerant rootstock.
Check the chill hours, they keep putting cherry trees in my area when the chill hour requirementa for them are super high! I dont get that many chill hours!
I also live in SoCal, and I don't think buying online fruit trees is a good option. Most the time they are selling small sticks like the 3ft stick Asian pear tree at the end of this video clip for $60- $80/ stick ( depends on the varieties) which I think is ridiculous prices. And planting bareroot trees in the high desert CA is much harder than on the humidity south east coast, so chance for the trees to die is really high. Not talking about a lot of times , the trees' roots had been excessively pruned, so the trees became much weaker and they die very easy when something goes wrong. saw some online sellers refused to ship to CA, but many others do ship to CA, and over the years I have received small plants, small trees, bareroot trees from other states with no problem. Some nurseries in CA selling expensive fruit and flower trees, especially with some rarer varieties, but if you go around and look, you can find some very good deal from time to time. So the best way for this channel 's ad doesn't work for me.
Blooming time is a very important factor. I live in middle Georgia & my plum trees would rarely produce fruit; late frost would kill the blooms nearly every season. Raintree Nursery has a good selection & its possible to search by bloom time. I planted three mid to late bloomers; and they bloom about three weeks after the last late frost. The only negative is they are rather expensive right now.
Yes flea markets are great for buying plants and fruit trees for far less. I always get great and cheaper plants. I live in South Texas and has saved me so much money.
I happened to try a nursery just 30 minutes from my house last fall and they had a huge sale on everything I needed - shrubs, perennials, trees. I went back 3 times and they have a guarantee for a year. They had all the info about pollination and root stocks too. They know their stuff. I’m really happy with them so far. Some are still needing to be planted but they’re getting a little snow on them. I’m excited to see how the new apple and plum and cherry trees do! Definitely try those local places and ask if they have guarantees etc!
One of my favourite way is plant markets. I went to a organic plant market last sunday and got a juneberry for 10€ and loads of vegetables and herbs as well. They had mostly local nurseries there, so they are used to the cold and amount of rain. The even cheaper way are plant swaps that are organized by local garden clubs, and what grows in your neigbours garden will work in yours, too.
I love your channel. I recently got interested in figs and ordered a bunch of the figs off figbid as per your 10 varieties to get video, and have started trying to root them. I live in TX, zone 8a, so I think I can put most if not all of them in the ground. I used to work at Lowes in the nursery and pretty much every single fruit tree you see is a standard size rootstock, so you're right on the money. I think getting your trees online is the best deal overall, unless you have agricultural restrictions like we do here in TX. Unfortunately, we have one of the most annoying ones in that we are forced to look to stores for anything citrus as it is against agricultural law to ship citrus to TX. As a citrus enthusiast, this is soul crushing. I've been looking for a Kishu Mandarin in every nursery near me for the last 5 or 6 years. My wishlist is big, and it really sucks I have no way of getting them. It's like being a fig enthusiast and not being able to order cuttings and instead rely on your nearest nursery for any varieties outside your standard celeste, brown turkey, or mission. In otherwords, you won't ever get anything interesting, lol.
I am familiar with the import restrictions, and it is frustrating. I would suggest you get yourself a few trifoliate rootstocks, which should be very easy to find. Then, buy budwood from Texas' budwood program: www.tamuk.edu/agriculture/institutes-and-other-units/citr/budwood.html Seedless Kishu is on the list.
If you are 8a in TX then check Womack nursery if you have not already, they are master gardener recommended for that zone/area for since forever almost. Unless you are down in Houston an even then you will have difficulty with citrus in TX unless growing them in pots and bringing them in during the winter. You can get trees outside to produce but its always a gamble as to when you get a freak arctic bomb winter that severely stunts or kills a ground planted citrus while other years you may just scrape by and think you are successful at it with covering trees and keeping heaters running to get them through freezes.
Thank you! I appreciate that. Dale says hi! It's his favorite part of every video (except for the taste test videos; the taste tests are his favorite favorite part).
Great video! I have gotten fruit trees in all the ways mentioned. However, we are very very lucky to have a retail/ wholesale nursery Dixon Ca. that sells bare root fruit trees that are only $39 their trees look to be a good year older than other nurseries. Also, having the choice to pick the tree, you can get a good start on future the branch structure of the tree. I got several Aprium and Pluot trees that are not easily available. Fruit trees are a good investment and pleasure!
Having a nursery that does its own grafting onsite and grows/uproots its own bare root trees is a treasure. Unfortunately, I have none local to me that I'm aware of (and I've looked pretty hard), so I must order online. It's always better to be able to see and touch the tree, since there is always a risk of damage in shipment. My trees in this video had a couple snapped branches from shipping, which is not the nursery's fault at all.
ILM, that’s my hood! I grew up in the area, we moved when I was a teen to Texas but my brother and sister graduated from Hoggard HS. My yankee dad retired back to Southport, so I showed him your channel. He has a great little garden with a few fig trees and veggies primarily, their problem is the deer! They can’t fence in their yard in their neighborhood. He’s been bemoaning the late freezes this year. Hopefully he enjoys your info as much as I do!! Also, I commented a while back on a video about strawberry plants and not realizing how hardy they are… you were so right. My two roots grew back this year in my planter and I didn’t protect them at all during our snowmageddon here in Texas 😅😅
I *love* Southport. It's such an awesome little town - except for June 1 thru Labor Day! One road in, one road out, single lane...I don't know how you can live there during tourist season 😅 The late freezes have been horrible this year, but last year was even WORSE! Now, we have a low of 41 Saturday night and 39 Sunday night, and every day they deduct another degree. COME ON! It'll be the middle of April. I've never seen anything like this. A low of 39 means low, cold spots WILL frost. It's just ridiculous. In the 6 years I've lived here, I've literally seen my growing season contract 30 days: 2-3 weeks later in the spring and 1-2 weeks earlier in the fall. It's just nuts. I don't think there is a single spot in all of Texas that can threaten the life of a strawberry in terms of cold hardiness. The only thing in Texas that'll kill strawberries is if you plant them in low, heavy clay and they drown, or you plant them in soil that is too dry or salty. As long as they don't dry out/roast to death or face a salt/pH issue, they're pretty invincible. There are some Zone 9/10 places that'll be too hot for them to survive, but nowhere in Texas is too cold.
@@TheMillennialGardener yes! All of this! Southport is beautiful to visit but if I moved back to the east coast I would definitely be moving to Wilmington. Southport is just a liiiittle too small town for me lol! I can’t believe how bad the freezes have been this year!! We’ve been hit repeatedly by hail storms lately but that’s par for the course. We just had a bad one blow through and some of the hail was the size of a football!!! It was INSANE!! Thank you for all you do. Your channel is so helpful especially for us novices.
I managed to get 2 bare root. For £10 this year in the uk ,and there was a great selection in a national store ,they have been planted for only a few months and have all flowered,I got 2 cherry ,1 apple and 1 apple to add to my collection.
Love this video. Lowes and home depot both sell pears apples and peaches in my area that need 300-400 chill hours which we rarely get in my part of florida and i think thats quite shady. However i love buying blueberries and grapes from big box stores as you said and i think they’re so cheap there its not even worth the hassle of buying online as i notice the cane fruits tend to be shipped smaller than a typical tree.
My experience is that the dormant trees bare root trees adapt faster to their new environment than potted trees. In fact I have lost a potted tree while never losing a bare root tree
I agree, provided you purchase a variety that's appropriate for your climate on a rootstock appropriate for your soil. After the initial "lag," they can really take off on you. I have noticed some species are faster than others, but generally, bare root trees will catch up.
I bought bare root fruit trees, berry and grape vines with the exception of my three fig trees every tree was semi- dwarf. I selected early, mid and late so that I wouldn't get a glut of fruit at one time. My citrus trees were all potted since I have never seen bare root citrus. I had sixty-two semi-dwarf organic fruit trees and I ended up with so much fruit. I had no idea what they were grafted on but all my trees thrived. I feed them compost that I made and set up a system of drip irrigation three feet down so the roots were trained to get water from under the soil. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have had success with barefoot trees from Home Depot and would definitely purchase more fro from them.
I love your videos.... They're so informative and to the point... There are other great youtubers out here that do a good job but some of them get off point and ramble for too long and I don't have that kind of time to listen to someone pontificate for hours... I like to turn on a video and get the information advertised in the title... Thank you for delivering great content very concisely.... Oh, and I love Dale too...
I'm really happy to hear that. I try to edit myself to prevent this. Usually, my final videos are only around 60-65% of the length of the raw footage. Thanks for your support, and Dale says hi!
Hopefully you're perused the comments for some good online sources used by some of us. I'd suggest Fedco trees in Maine. Request a catalogue and peruse it for a week or two then make your order. The catalogue is packed with information. More than I could even read over an entire winter season!
Another good option is to buy locally but skip the big box stores and find a local small business nursery to buy from. The selection will still not be as big as if you buy online but the varieties they do have will virtually all be varieties that are selected specifically for your region and climate since the stores will want to sell plants that work for their customers. No shipping costs (if you can provide your own transportation), plants that will work for your location, usually knowledgeable staff that can help you select what's right for you, and you're supporting local business. All good things.
I found what you said is true. There are many local nurseries that selling fruit trees with ridiculous prices like in the hundreds, yet if we are really searching around, we can get some quality fruit trees with good prices. I live in CA where there are many local nurseries of all kinds. FL, TX, GA... have many too, not sure about the varieties in the colder states up north. I'm not doubting that there are some good choices for getting fruit trees via online orders, but most the times, the cost is really high for some reasons. Just read the reviews, some customers ordered online and they had horrible experiences. The online nurseries sent dried small sticks with excessive root pruning that never showed any sign of life no matter how much you baby them. I had some bad online orders for trees that was just a waste of my time and money.
I appreciate that, but I'm learning as I go. I experiment quite a bit, so every year is a learning experience. There are plenty of failures along the way. Example: 5 years ago, I was one of those people that was anti-determinate tomatoes. Then, I learned how to grow them. What a revelation. The way to be a good gardener is to admit your failures, figure out why you failed and learn from them. Gardening is humbling.
The only problem with that is that it can often be too late to plant, or you'll miss the entire growing season by waiting. I like to get my trees in in early March. That way, they can grow for the entire season and establish before the winter.
I have purchased bare root plants and trees through the years and had great success. They tend to wake up quickly when it's time to grow.🙂 Another informative post...thanks! Hey to food inspector Dale!
I'm glad to hear that! Bare root trees require patience. People tend to kill them with kindness trying to coax them along. They need to sit and slowly do their thing, but once they wake up, they often can overtake other trees. Dale and his nosey nose says hi! 👃
I like all your alternatives. Your thoughts about big box store trees are spot-on in my experience, and I try to avoid those places anyway. Another option, at least in my area, is plant/tree sales sponsored by the state university and/or local conservation groups. There's a big push on now to get people to plant more trees, especially native varieties that are known to do well in your specific area - and that's fantastic. We found this year that the prices at a couple such local sales were much lower than online stores - and we still have a lot of confidence in them performing well here. They're all bare-root trees, and that's fine with me. What are your thoughts on growing fruit trees from cuttings? There's a farmer near us that grows an heirloom apple variety we really like, and I was thinking of asking him to sell me some cuttings. I don't mind that cuttings will take longer to grow to a productive size; we have enough room to put them out of the way and let them grow, and we're also putting in bare-root trees and a couple container-grown trees that will become mature sooner.
(I understand that apples are very often grafted onto a different rootstock for various reasons including disease-resistance, but in this specific case the variety in question is known to do well on its own in our area and the farmer said the ones he's had for a decade or more are all non-grafted.)
The problem I have with growing native species is they are overwhelmingly ornamentals. I try to grow only things that feed me (except for the weakness I have for palms). To me, *most* ornamentals don't serve the purpose that I need, so I need to branch out and get creative. While a lot of universities and local nurseries promote local species, they rarely promote edibles, and that's a shame. Good fruit trees are so hard to find! I generally don't like growing from cuttings, because I overwhelmingly prefer growing on a hardy, disease resistant, dwarfing rootstock. There are exceptions: figs, blueberries, pineapple guava, my Meyer lemon - these items I do not want grafted for a whole host of reasons. However, for disease-prone or giant-growing trees like apples, peaches, pears, Asian persimmon, most citrus, etc., I believe grafting onto an appropriate rootstock is generally superior. If you grow from cutting, you should do it for a specific reason. For the apple that does well for you, ask yourself this: do you want a 30-40 ft tall apple tree? If you do, grow from a rooted cutting. If not, you may want to get yourself a G.210, M.9 or some other rootstock that is appropriate for your climate. Cummins has good descriptions here: www.cumminsnursery.com/buy-trees/index.php?type=rootstock&year=2022&category=Apple&subcategory=
@@TheMillennialGardener bro... are you kidding me? Blueberries are native. Apples are native. Peaches are native. Wild plums are native. Paw-paws are native. Blackberries are native, etc etc etc. Muscadines are native (OK that's not a tree, it's a vine, but still.) Those are ALL available at the local sales here in the southeast. It ain't just dogwoods and redbuds. Yes I get it, a lot of native trees are "ornamental" and you don't get an edible harvest from them, but to say "native trees are overwhelmingly ornamental" or that "local universities rarely promote edible plants" is simply NOT true. PLEASE do get more creative and open your mind a little, friend.
@@TheMillennialGardener and yes, as I said earlier, I fully understand why so many apples are grafted. The specific variety I have in mind is sort of an exception to that, as I said. I know it does well on its own rootstock in MY area; I've seen the mature trees and eaten the fruit :)
@@TheMillennialGardener please also bear in mind that IF a gardener has room for them - I understand, many people just don't have enough yard - but IF they do have room, "ornamental" native trees from oaks to maples to dogwoods and redbuds also play a VERY important role in providing food and habitat for all sorts of pollinators and beneficial wildlife. It's not JUST about what we get to eat in the short term. IF we have the space to do so, we should also consider the larger environmental issues and plant accordingly. That might be an oak tree or just a small flower bed. It depends on the person and how much area they have to work with. IF a person only has room for a tiny herb garden or a few flowers or one tomato plant, I encourage them! Every little bit helps. :)
Fedco trees is a good online source. They love apple trees but have many types of trees, seeds, supplies, root crops, organic supplies, tools. Their paper catalogue is LOADED with information. Well worth requesting. They're in Maine I believe. Have bought trees a few times from them and I'm satisfied with the trees.
IDK my guy - home depot was cheaper than the large nurseries nearby. 6ft strawberry vanilla hydrangea was $120 at the big (200 acre...) nursery and $79 at home depot - identical size. Plus home depot will warranty it but the nursery will only warranty it if they install it.
Hunt around. There are tons of options and lots of good online nurseries. I have a whole favorites page just for them. It does take a little time and studying to find suitable rootstock and varieties to fit your needs. I prefer bareroot trees and shrubs. Good advice on this video. Here in MN there are lots of nurseries that raise plants specifically adapted to the zone and environment. Most will ship bareroot or allow for pickup onsite.
We have zone maps and most varieties tell you when you need a pollinator or they are self pollinated. Most people research their trees and again you can go pick them up at nurseries out of town as well.
Also remember that long-lived perennials like fruit trees are good for your soil in general, and you can companion-plant all sorts of cool things under/around them to make the most of your space. :)
That's true. They're also great at combating erosion problems. The roots secure the soil from washing out in heavy rain, and also help prevent drainage problems. The roots aerate the soil well.
I bought fruit trees online from the Rain Tree Nursery and Earl May Nursery and they all died after 2 to 3 years. I don’t know maybe Frost got them all. I bought apple trees in Orschlen and Home Depot they're doing fine and growing well.
Yes! Exactly. About 8 years ago I bought two apple trees in a big box store. They grew, but never flowered, and then started to die. They are both gone now, I wasted money and time. From now on, I'm sticking with online nurseries, after researching well before.
Oh, no! I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe it was for the best. Even worse than the trees dying would be the trees establishing well and never fruiting or providing poor fruit. It's so important to buy a tree where the fruit ripens at the "ideal" time. Apples need to mature in that cooler fall weather, so a variety that ripens too early during the heat of the summer, or too late once the frosts start, won't work. It's like threading a needle.
my go to are the local seed store and also the local plant nursery. By far they offer the best variety tailored to the environment, they come with expert advice, and at least in my experience they take off much faster than the big box store fruit trees.
I think box stores selling unfit varieties used to be a bigger issue. The box stores here in South Alabama sell the same varieties as the local nurseries for much cheaper.
That's because a lot of the local nurseries are just resellers, too, and they have higher overhead, so they can't compete with the big box stores on the same price points. The real trick is figuring out who is actually making the grafts, and then you order directly from the places making the trees. That's usually where you get the best selection.
I recommend getting trees from your local nursery that has been in business for awhile, the reason is because thats all they do they know the local climate and know what doesnt work, where as walmart or home depot many irons in the fire and may have mislabeled ,(tag switching) or not compatable stock and you wont know for years that what you got was wrong .. i have had mixed results from dry root..some never sprouted and then its to late to reorder or replant also they will pitch great photos of the fruit with new variety names and features but arent the tried and true that you really should stick with..once again, your local nursey doesnt want to face a local customer that returns to explain why it was below what he expected. So worst is big box ,second is mail order dry root, best is local IMO
@@budbruni4696 Really May is getting to late to plant tbh. Yeah, you've gotta be quick. Most of the 12 dollar ones sold quick or are now dead, since they werent potted.
Great info as usual. Just bought 3 bareroot apple trees from century farms orchards here in NC with the exact varieties and rootstock I was looking for.
As usual, nice video. Up here in Jersey, Lowes is selling their non grafted fruit trees for about $34-$35. Most of the trees are marked with the Pollinators they would need, if they need one. I did hear that each state and even each Lowes can be different. I did notice higher prices on trees at Home Depot though. Keep up the good work.
I always err on the side of caution on those plant tags. I find they are really inaccurate. The zones, cold tolerances, etc. are often generic and way off. They tag the same info for an Owari satsuma as they do with a Eureka lemon, and they’ll tag a Mexican avocado the same as a Guatemalan avocado. I recommend doing your research externally first. If the big box stores happen to get in a variety you want, great, but I wouldn’t buy based off of info on the plant tags.
They are breba figs. They’re growing on the cutting, because it is 1 year old wood. You will need to remove them if it is just a cutting, because they will either destroy the cutting if it hasn’t rooted yet or stall it if it already rooted.
I just moved from TN to WI, and while there are some overlap of varieties, those are indoor or tropical plants. I don't see crepe myrtles sold here, for example. But I see a lot of hardy lilac. And I frequent the same stores, HD, or Lowes.
I haven't seen any fruit trees the past 2 years at big box stores except maybe tractor supply had like two plums. And the home Depot like an apple and a pair. I'm here in Maryland
They get them in very early. Here, Home Depot gets apples, pears and plums in stock in January. By the time April rolls around, they're pretty picked over. For cold hardy deciduous trees, they're brought in very early in winter, and then the evergreen stuff like citrus and avocados come in April when the frosts stop. At least that's how it works here.
I've never had luck buying fruit trees at big box stores, because the rootstocks are never labeled and they're usually varieties of fruit you can buy in a grocery store or choices that won't work well in my climate. If you can find varieties you desire with labeled rootstocks that are compatible for the size and soil type you want, that's a good deal.
Bare roots beat potted trees in size and production within several years. Roughly 75% of way too many potted trees I bought in the past 12 years are dead, half of survivors are either hanging out there or do not produce. Apple trees I grew from seeds are much better looking than most potted apple trees that survived. I planted apple seeds 8 years ago, last year a couple of trees I grew from seeds produced buckets of apples, all taste and look good.
The commercial orchards plant and buy them by the thousands, tens of thousands. The growers that are closest to your location grow usually for your region. Shop locally.
Unfortunately, most regions do not have local nurseries of quality. The nurseries around here just import the same trees that the big box stores do, or they don't have any fruit trees, period. Shopping local means Home Depot for most. Most of the population live in cities and suburbs, so the nearest nursery that actually performs their own grafting can be hours away. If you have one, that's a goldmine, but it's rare and hard to find in today's world. Generally speaking, the nurseries around here strictly sell ornamentals for landscaping. Fruit trees...I can't find them anywhere.
@@TheMillennialGardener we are lucky, C&O, Vanwell, Willow Creek, etc, in Washington, Bylands in BC, Whitfill in Arizona, Dave Wilson in Calif. If one calls the m they tell you who sells at retail levels. Or ask at the local upicks, they are a good source of their supplier.
You're welcome! Hopefully, you stayed warm this morning. My weather station recorded a low of 37 here in Brunswick County. No ground frost, thankfully.
I literally just ordered some fruit trees online a couple of hours before you posted this video. I hope I got the the right ones (zone 8) in central Texas climate with bi-modal wet seasons in spring and fall. I ordered a Celeste Fig, an Italian Honey Fig, an Issai Hardy Kiwi, and a Persea Avocado Hass. Except for the Avocado tree, (zone 9), all are supposed to work for my zone 8 climate. I was planning on keeping them all in pots since the soils are thin and alkaline but I'm not sure if they all will fruit while living in pots? I also got the Prime Ark Freedom that you suggested in one of your videos and also a Viccinium "Sunshine Blue" Dwarf Blueberry also for containers. I plan to do most of my gardening in containers unless the plants are known for doing well in thin (less than 1 foot) alkaline soils over limestone epikarst.
Definitely plant the figs in ground. Figs will thrive in your dry summers once established, and do well in alkaline, limestone-y soil, since that is how their native soil often is. Plant them high, and spread 4-6 inches of compost and mulch around the base. Keep them well-irrigated the first few seasons. The avocado will need to stay in a container. Avocados need to be planted very high in sandy soil, or they will get root rot and die. It's also too cold in your climate. Hass is a Guatemalan variety, so it cannot tolerate cold like the Mexican varieties can. Hass is frost tender, so you'll need to protect it from even a light frost. If you need a frost-tolerant avocado, you must buy a Mexican variety, like my Lila. Blueberries cannot tolerate alkaline soil at all. Blackberries also prefer acidic soil, but you can plant them on a large compost berm if you choose, which is what I do. Blackberries are cheap enough that I'd risk planting them on a big compost hill and see what happens, but not the blueberry. I don't think it'll have much of a shot without a lot of amending.
Your kiwi will need a sturdy trellis to grow on its a vine plant. They grow pretty fast I got one last year, and its already about 6ft tall and just started coming out of dormancy. Im in zone 8b, Washington state. Good luck with it!
I remember one time my mom cut my papaya trees they were like 3 two died one live, and then a few days later I see too baby papayas in my bananas trees pot, so I put it in another pot, which is big cause I like it like that but I do not recommend to buy some fruit trees from a Home Depot. It might die very fast, but nurseries. Take care of the trees more like the Home Depot is focusing on the supplies not on the trees a lot and if my fruit trees have a flower, I take care of it good also like I always do with my trees because I need fruit and did I mention that my grandpa and grandma has a lot of papayas but they have eight papayas 2 mango trees and 1 jackfruit tree but sometimes maybe a Home Depot or a Walmart maybe be good about the fruit trees but the Walmart🫤🫤🫤
Hi! I ordered a flamethrower redbud online, but it’s just a stick without any budding, no branches, no leaves! I did cut the top to see if any sign of life, and there is some small green in the center. Any tips to help it grow, would be much appreciated!!!
That may be the case. The problem with big box stores is the limited and generic selection, and the total lack of information regarding rootstocks. It isn't correct to just buy a fruit tree and hope for the best. Rootstock selection, variety selection, pollinator compatibility (if necessary) and blooming time are all so important. I had to research for a long time to select apples for my climate, because I need late season varieties that mature when it's cool. A mid-season apple that matured in August or September would be terrible here when it's still 92 degrees outside. There are so many considerations to take into account.
Thanks for the great content, very informative. Please tell me you have been to green side up garden & gifts. You are so close maybe 2 hours, it usually doesn’t come up cause it not labeled as a nursery even though it is. Also, don’t go broke if you go.
I have never heard of it. I'm looking at their Google Maps page. I will say this: if I were a single man, the inside of my house would consist of a fully stocked kitchen, couch, TV, coffee table, bed and probably nothing else. I'm a crazy plant collector, but an indoor minimalist. The indoor trinkets are lost on me, but the outdoor landscaping is intriguing. I'm all about the fruit trees, if they stock them.
How are you going to leave out local nurseries? Local nurseries have trees that are suited to your local climate. Price is cheaper than shipping a tree in a container. Local nursery is always going to be my first choice over bare root online, container online, or corporate box.
Because you can't simply recommend "local nurseries." That isn't helpful. Some people may have access to local nurseries. The overwhelming majority, such as myself, have no access to any local nurseries that graft their own trees. This is a video for the 98% that don't have a local nursery that provides fruit trees.
@@TheMillennialGardener Appreciate the reply. I'm not sure where you are getting 98% but I'm sure my perspective is a bit skewed, having only experienced gardening in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. You can't drive anywhere here without running into a nursery, a vineyard, and an orchard or two. I didn't consider that others might not have access.
Could you please tell me the name of the online store/ nursery for yr bare root trees. I want giombo persimmons, asian pear, peach/ nectarines, avocado, apple trees, and cherry. Also where do you get yr figs trees. I can only find brown fig (celeste?). Thank you so much for everything
The apples and peaches are from Cummins Nursery (probably one of the largest apple and peach sellers). The Asian pear is from Burnt Ridge. My blueberries are from Bottoms Nursery. My persimmons are from Just Fruits and Exotics and Plant Me Green. My pawpaw’s are from Peaceful Heritage Nursery. All have been excellent.
I’ve had a delivery of bare root raspberries and blackberries… I’m in the uk and it’s extremely wet atm we have had lots of rain, probably the snout we should of had in summer plus what we usually get now. So lot , my point is atm they are all container grown until I get my new raised beds and get them set up. So in the containers im aware that the soil is very wet. Should I hold off planting them and just leave in the package they have come in, until say January when hopefully it be colder and dryer? Or do I take them out the package and wait or do I plant them? As when I had the obese come earlier this year I just planted and let them get on with it. And they have done well. Even some small fruit which I didn’t expect and left on so as not to stress the plant. I didn’t know it was there till it was lol.
Hey, question- if I’m getting a dormant bareroot rootstock in the mail, should I plant and let the rootstock wake up for a few weeks before I attempt to graft a dormant scion to it?
I plant the bareroot rootstock in a black container, stick it in the sun, and let it warm up and come to life. I believe you want the sap to start flowing before you graft. It should be starting to wake up to grow and fuse with the scion. Spring is the ideal time to graft.
Thanks for this video. I have had mixed success with my fruit trees. I am also in eastern NC, an hour west of Wilmington. What type of fruit trees can I keep in large containers? Is your avocado in one?
My avocado is in-ground. Growing fruit trees in containers is always a challenge. If you do grow in containers, it's generally important to buy varieties grafted onto dwarf rootstocks. they will do better longterm. Citrus grafted onto trifoliate rootstock, for example, do very well in containers. My coffee trees do fantastic in containers. So do figs, but you will need to hard prune them annually very aggressively. Apples and peaches can do well as long as you buy heavily dwarfing varieties, but those will grow effortlessly in ground here, if you have space. The lowest effort fruit trees to grow here are probably persimmons and pawpaw's because they're virtually disease-free and pest-free where we live.
Generally speaking, it takes a fruit tree 2 seasons to grow roots. It's normal for a fruit tree not to grow much, if at all, its very first season, because it will spend its first season simply establishing and adapting to the soil. Season 2 is just as slow, because most of the energy is spent growing roots. It isn't until Year 3 that fruit trees tend to really take off. This is not a problem at all. Don't rush them. You shouldn't expect a fruit tree to produce that quickly. If fact, you wouldn't want it to, because chances are it would just overbear and possibly damage itself under the weight of the fruit.
it can take a while, I had a persimmon that "woke" up 5 months into the season and I was sure it was gone. A simple way to see if it's still alive is to make a small (!!) scrap on the bark on one of the branches and see if the layer under (cambium) is green, that means the tree is alive and working on something
If you found this video helpful, please "Like" and share it to help extend its reach! Thanks for watching 😃TIMESTAMPS for convenience:
0:00 3 Ways To Buy Fruit Trees
0:32 Option #1 - Garden Centers
3:02 Option #2 - A Better Selection
6:05 Option #3 - My Favorite Option!
8:36 The Downside To This Plant Shopping Method
12:45 Adventures With Dale
Hey do you know what the little pink bush beans are sometimes called peanut beans. Do you know where I can get some
@@shirleytruett7319 I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the species you're referring to. Do you have a link?
@@TheMillennialGardener No I don't, we use to buy them every year until a couple years ago now we can't find any no where's. I'm from Haywood county NC but live in South Carolina for the past 20 years, those beans only grow to around 14 to 16 inches tall and they produce tons of beans and they are really good
@@shirleytruett7319 I'm from Asheville, try looking for pink half runners. I did a search for "bush beans that are called peanut beans". Places showed up in search that you can buy from. Hope that helps. My advice is to by the heirloom. Last year I bought the old timey Greasy Cut Shorts green beans from someone in Canton, NC. They did wonderful. I now live in Tennessee. Hope this helps.
@@sherrystacyrn589 Thank you Sherry . I have a daughter named Sherry 😁
I live in Los Angeles, last year in January I was at Lowe's poking around and I saw some triple grafted (3 varieties) dwarf apple trees for $35. I didn't think any apples would grow around here. I immediately googled the varieties listed on the tags and they all were warm climate fruits, so I bought it. Right now it's about 4 feet tall and has 20 apples growing on it. They are small but the first ones tasted good and I was glad I bought it.
Every fruit tree I see at Lowe's is good for this climate,,, I check a lot even though I have no more room, I also recently bought a dwarf hass avocado tree at Home Depot. I was waiting for that to come around,,, and it did.
A lot of great trees are not legal for shipment to California,, that's a bummer too.
Home Depot here near Seattle sells ungrafted Meyer lemon, Washington navel, and key lime. When in my opinion it would be better if they sold grafted versions on cold tolerant rootstock.
Check the chill hours, they keep putting cherry trees in my area when the chill hour requirementa for them are super high! I dont get that many chill hours!
I also live in SoCal, and I don't think buying online fruit trees is a good option. Most the time they are selling small sticks like the 3ft stick Asian pear tree at the end of this video clip for $60- $80/ stick ( depends on the varieties) which I think is ridiculous prices. And planting bareroot trees in the high desert CA is much harder than on the humidity south east coast, so chance for the trees to die is really high. Not talking about a lot of times , the trees' roots had been excessively pruned, so the trees became much weaker and they die very easy when something goes wrong.
saw some online sellers refused to ship to CA, but many others do ship to CA, and over the years I have received small plants, small trees, bareroot trees from other states with no problem. Some nurseries in CA selling expensive fruit and flower trees, especially with some rarer varieties, but if you go around and look, you can find some very good deal from time to time. So the best way for this channel 's ad doesn't work for me.
Blooming time is a very important factor. I live in middle Georgia & my plum trees would rarely produce fruit; late frost would kill the blooms nearly every season. Raintree Nursery has a good selection & its possible to search by bloom time. I planted three mid to late bloomers; and they bloom about three weeks after the last late frost. The only negative is they are rather expensive right now.
South Georgia here. The frost struggle is real.
I've bought Peach, Apple, Plum and Pear trees the last three years from Fedco Trees in Maine with excellent results !
I get my fruit trees from the flea market. Peach trees for $24, a plum tree for $24 and pear tree for $28 all are bearing fruit.
Yes flea markets are great for buying plants and fruit trees for far less. I always get great and cheaper plants. I live in South Texas and has saved me so much money.
I happened to try a nursery just 30 minutes from my house last fall and they had a huge sale on everything I needed - shrubs, perennials, trees. I went back 3 times and they have a guarantee for a year. They had all the info about pollination and root stocks too. They know their stuff. I’m really happy with them so far. Some are still needing to be planted but they’re getting a little snow on them. I’m excited to see how the new apple and plum and cherry trees do! Definitely try those local places and ask if they have guarantees etc!
I found the exact same thing two years ago!
One of my favourite way is plant markets. I went to a organic plant market last sunday and got a juneberry for 10€ and loads of vegetables and herbs as well. They had mostly local nurseries there, so they are used to the cold and amount of rain.
The even cheaper way are plant swaps that are organized by local garden clubs, and what grows in your neigbours garden will work in yours, too.
Bingo!
I love your channel. I recently got interested in figs and ordered a bunch of the figs off figbid as per your 10 varieties to get video, and have started trying to root them. I live in TX, zone 8a, so I think I can put most if not all of them in the ground. I used to work at Lowes in the nursery and pretty much every single fruit tree you see is a standard size rootstock, so you're right on the money. I think getting your trees online is the best deal overall, unless you have agricultural restrictions like we do here in TX. Unfortunately, we have one of the most annoying ones in that we are forced to look to stores for anything citrus as it is against agricultural law to ship citrus to TX. As a citrus enthusiast, this is soul crushing. I've been looking for a Kishu Mandarin in every nursery near me for the last 5 or 6 years. My wishlist is big, and it really sucks I have no way of getting them. It's like being a fig enthusiast and not being able to order cuttings and instead rely on your nearest nursery for any varieties outside your standard celeste, brown turkey, or mission. In otherwords, you won't ever get anything interesting, lol.
I am familiar with the import restrictions, and it is frustrating. I would suggest you get yourself a few trifoliate rootstocks, which should be very easy to find. Then, buy budwood from Texas' budwood program: www.tamuk.edu/agriculture/institutes-and-other-units/citr/budwood.html
Seedless Kishu is on the list.
If you are 8a in TX then check Womack nursery if you have not already, they are master gardener recommended for that zone/area for since forever almost. Unless you are down in Houston an even then you will have difficulty with citrus in TX unless growing them in pots and bringing them in during the winter. You can get trees outside to produce but its always a gamble as to when you get a freak arctic bomb winter that severely stunts or kills a ground planted citrus while other years you may just scrape by and think you are successful at it with covering trees and keeping heaters running to get them through freezes.
Hi there. Try Fanick's nursery in San Antonio. They have dozens of varieties of fog trees! I was just there last week.
I come for the Adventures With Dale, :) just kidding, I appreciate all the work you, Brittany and Dale put into your videos. Thank you kindly.
I enjoy the doggie segments, too! Our furry pals Sabbath and Slayer are a big part of enjoying our garden.
Thank you! I appreciate that. Dale says hi! It's his favorite part of every video (except for the taste test videos; the taste tests are his favorite favorite part).
A fellow Wilmington guy right here! Much love man. Getting my garden going now and you’ve been a great help. Keep up the good work!!
Thanks for watching, neighbor! Outside of a few cold shots, it's been a pretty nice spring so far. Enjoy this great weather before the storms start!
Great video! I have gotten fruit trees in all the ways mentioned. However, we are very very lucky to have a retail/ wholesale nursery Dixon Ca. that sells bare root fruit trees that are only $39 their trees look to be a good year older than other nurseries.
Also, having the choice to pick the tree, you can get a good start on future the branch structure of the tree. I got several Aprium and Pluot trees that are not easily available. Fruit trees are a good investment and pleasure!
Having a nursery that does its own grafting onsite and grows/uproots its own bare root trees is a treasure. Unfortunately, I have none local to me that I'm aware of (and I've looked pretty hard), so I must order online. It's always better to be able to see and touch the tree, since there is always a risk of damage in shipment. My trees in this video had a couple snapped branches from shipping, which is not the nursery's fault at all.
I’ve picked some from Lemuria Nursery. They have great Dave Wilson trees
Can you share the name of the nursery?
ILM, that’s my hood! I grew up in the area, we moved when I was a teen to Texas but my brother and sister graduated from Hoggard HS. My yankee dad retired back to Southport, so I showed him your channel. He has a great little garden with a few fig trees and veggies primarily, their problem is the deer! They can’t fence in their yard in their neighborhood. He’s been bemoaning the late freezes this year. Hopefully he enjoys your info as much as I do!!
Also, I commented a while back on a video about strawberry plants and not realizing how hardy they are… you were so right. My two roots grew back this year in my planter and I didn’t protect them at all during our snowmageddon here in Texas 😅😅
I *love* Southport. It's such an awesome little town - except for June 1 thru Labor Day! One road in, one road out, single lane...I don't know how you can live there during tourist season 😅 The late freezes have been horrible this year, but last year was even WORSE! Now, we have a low of 41 Saturday night and 39 Sunday night, and every day they deduct another degree. COME ON! It'll be the middle of April. I've never seen anything like this. A low of 39 means low, cold spots WILL frost. It's just ridiculous. In the 6 years I've lived here, I've literally seen my growing season contract 30 days: 2-3 weeks later in the spring and 1-2 weeks earlier in the fall. It's just nuts.
I don't think there is a single spot in all of Texas that can threaten the life of a strawberry in terms of cold hardiness. The only thing in Texas that'll kill strawberries is if you plant them in low, heavy clay and they drown, or you plant them in soil that is too dry or salty. As long as they don't dry out/roast to death or face a salt/pH issue, they're pretty invincible. There are some Zone 9/10 places that'll be too hot for them to survive, but nowhere in Texas is too cold.
@@TheMillennialGardener yes! All of this! Southport is beautiful to visit but if I moved back to the east coast I would definitely be moving to Wilmington. Southport is just a liiiittle too small town for me lol! I can’t believe how bad the freezes have been this year!! We’ve been hit repeatedly by hail storms lately but that’s par for the course. We just had a bad one blow through and some of the hail was the size of a football!!! It was INSANE!!
Thank you for all you do. Your channel is so helpful especially for us novices.
Buying from a nursery isn't as cheap as big box stores but the quality is sometimes better.
I managed to get 2 bare root. For £10 this year in the uk ,and there was a great selection in a national store ,they have been planted for only a few months and have all flowered,I got 2 cherry ,1 apple and 1 apple to add to my collection.
Great writing format. Clear and weighs pro and cons.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
In my state you can use food stamps to buy fruit trees from places like Walmart so that's were I buy mine
Wow! That's awesome!
@@tashasmith1234 yeah alot of people don't know that you can also by seeds of small plants that produce food
Love this video. Lowes and home depot both sell pears apples and peaches in my area that need 300-400 chill hours which we rarely get in my part of florida and i think thats quite shady. However i love buying blueberries and grapes from big box stores as you said and i think they’re so cheap there its not even worth the hassle of buying online as i notice the cane fruits tend to be shipped smaller than a typical tree.
Note that blueberries have chill hour needs as well as your apples and peaches.
My experience is that the dormant trees bare root trees adapt faster to their new environment than potted trees. In fact I have lost a potted tree while never losing a bare root tree
I agree, provided you purchase a variety that's appropriate for your climate on a rootstock appropriate for your soil. After the initial "lag," they can really take off on you. I have noticed some species are faster than others, but generally, bare root trees will catch up.
Potted trees go through dormancy as well so I don't get the problem as long as you pick a good time
I bought bare root fruit trees, berry and grape vines with the exception of my three fig trees every tree was semi- dwarf. I selected early, mid and late so that I wouldn't get a glut of fruit at one time. My citrus trees were all potted since I have never seen bare root citrus. I had sixty-two semi-dwarf organic fruit trees and I ended up with so much fruit. I had no idea what they were grafted on but all my trees thrived. I feed them compost that I made and set up a system of drip irrigation three feet down so the roots were trained to get water from under the soil. I guess what I am trying to say is that I have had success with barefoot trees from Home Depot and would definitely purchase more fro from them.
They have zones posted on the tree card and also state if they need a pollinator.
I love your videos.... They're so informative and to the point... There are other great youtubers out here that do a good job but some of them get off point and ramble for too long and I don't have that kind of time to listen to someone pontificate for hours... I like to turn on a video and get the information advertised in the title... Thank you for delivering great content very concisely.... Oh, and I love Dale too...
I'm really happy to hear that. I try to edit myself to prevent this. Usually, my final videos are only around 60-65% of the length of the raw footage. Thanks for your support, and Dale says hi!
Awesome to hear that you are in Wilmington, Rocky Point resident here. Small world. Thanks for the info and can't wait to get my trees planted
The info I wanted to know the most is which online retailers are the most reliable?
Hopefully you're perused the comments for some good online sources used by some of us. I'd suggest Fedco trees in Maine. Request a catalogue and peruse it for a week or two then make your order. The catalogue is packed with information. More than I could even read over an entire winter season!
Another good option is to buy locally but skip the big box stores and find a local small business nursery to buy from. The selection will still not be as big as if you buy online but the varieties they do have will virtually all be varieties that are selected specifically for your region and climate since the stores will want to sell plants that work for their customers. No shipping costs (if you can provide your own transportation), plants that will work for your location, usually knowledgeable staff that can help you select what's right for you, and you're supporting local business. All good things.
I found what you said is true. There are many local nurseries that selling fruit trees with ridiculous prices like in the hundreds, yet if we are really searching around, we can get some quality fruit trees with good prices. I live in CA where there are many local nurseries of all kinds. FL, TX, GA... have many too, not sure about the varieties in the colder states up north.
I'm not doubting that there are some good choices for getting fruit trees via online orders, but most the times, the cost is really high for some reasons. Just read the reviews, some customers ordered online and they had horrible experiences. The online nurseries sent dried small sticks with excessive root pruning that never showed any sign of life no matter how much you baby them. I had some bad online orders for trees that was just a waste of my time and money.
He thinks he knows everything. BECAUSE HE DOES! I love this channel.
I appreciate that, but I'm learning as I go. I experiment quite a bit, so every year is a learning experience. There are plenty of failures along the way. Example: 5 years ago, I was one of those people that was anti-determinate tomatoes. Then, I learned how to grow them. What a revelation. The way to be a good gardener is to admit your failures, figure out why you failed and learn from them. Gardening is humbling.
Bare root is the absolute best way to buy trees. Thanks for the video!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Are used to go to the big box store right before winter all trees were reduced to 25% of the price i used to fill the truck up every year
The only problem with that is that it can often be too late to plant, or you'll miss the entire growing season by waiting. I like to get my trees in in early March. That way, they can grow for the entire season and establish before the winter.
I have purchased bare root plants and trees through the years and had great success. They tend to wake up quickly when it's time to grow.🙂
Another informative post...thanks!
Hey to food inspector Dale!
I'm glad to hear that! Bare root trees require patience. People tend to kill them with kindness trying to coax them along. They need to sit and slowly do their thing, but once they wake up, they often can overtake other trees. Dale and his nosey nose says hi! 👃
Thanks! Around here, we also buy from good local nurseries as they tend to carry many varieties that will grow in our climate.
I like all your alternatives. Your thoughts about big box store trees are spot-on in my experience, and I try to avoid those places anyway.
Another option, at least in my area, is plant/tree sales sponsored by the state university and/or local conservation groups. There's a big push on
now to get people to plant more trees, especially native varieties that are known to do well in your specific area - and that's fantastic.
We found this year that the prices at a couple such local sales were much lower than online stores - and we still have a lot of confidence in them
performing well here. They're all bare-root trees, and that's fine with me.
What are your thoughts on growing fruit trees from cuttings? There's a farmer near us that grows an heirloom apple variety we really like, and I was thinking of asking him to sell me some cuttings.
I don't mind that cuttings will take longer to grow to a productive size; we have enough room to put them out of the way and let them grow, and we're also putting in bare-root trees and a couple container-grown trees that will become mature sooner.
(I understand that apples are very often grafted onto a different rootstock for various reasons including disease-resistance, but in this specific case the variety in question is known to do well on its own in our area and the farmer said the ones he's had for a decade or more are all non-grafted.)
The problem I have with growing native species is they are overwhelmingly ornamentals. I try to grow only things that feed me (except for the weakness I have for palms). To me, *most* ornamentals don't serve the purpose that I need, so I need to branch out and get creative. While a lot of universities and local nurseries promote local species, they rarely promote edibles, and that's a shame. Good fruit trees are so hard to find!
I generally don't like growing from cuttings, because I overwhelmingly prefer growing on a hardy, disease resistant, dwarfing rootstock. There are exceptions: figs, blueberries, pineapple guava, my Meyer lemon - these items I do not want grafted for a whole host of reasons. However, for disease-prone or giant-growing trees like apples, peaches, pears, Asian persimmon, most citrus, etc., I believe grafting onto an appropriate rootstock is generally superior. If you grow from cutting, you should do it for a specific reason.
For the apple that does well for you, ask yourself this: do you want a 30-40 ft tall apple tree? If you do, grow from a rooted cutting. If not, you may want to get yourself a G.210, M.9 or some other rootstock that is appropriate for your climate. Cummins has good descriptions here: www.cumminsnursery.com/buy-trees/index.php?type=rootstock&year=2022&category=Apple&subcategory=
@@TheMillennialGardener bro... are you kidding me? Blueberries are native. Apples are native. Peaches are native. Wild plums are native. Paw-paws are native.
Blackberries are native, etc etc etc. Muscadines are native (OK that's not a tree, it's a vine, but still.)
Those are ALL available at the local sales here in the southeast. It ain't just dogwoods and redbuds.
Yes I get it, a lot of native trees are "ornamental" and you don't get an edible harvest from them, but to say "native trees are overwhelmingly ornamental" or that "local universities rarely promote edible plants" is simply NOT true.
PLEASE do get more creative and open your mind a little, friend.
@@TheMillennialGardener and yes, as I said earlier, I fully understand why so many apples are grafted. The specific variety I have in mind is sort of an exception to that, as I said. I know it does well on its own rootstock in MY area; I've seen the mature trees and eaten the fruit :)
@@TheMillennialGardener please also bear in mind that IF a gardener has room for them - I understand, many people just don't have enough yard - but IF they do have room, "ornamental" native trees from oaks to maples to dogwoods and redbuds also play a VERY important role in providing food and habitat for all sorts of pollinators and beneficial wildlife.
It's not JUST about what we get to eat in the short term.
IF we have the space to do so, we should also consider the larger environmental issues and plant accordingly. That might be an oak tree or just a small flower bed.
It depends on the person and how much area they have to work with.
IF a person only has room for a tiny herb garden or a few flowers or one tomato plant, I encourage them! Every little bit helps. :)
This was the most important information I’ve learned about buying trees! Thank you!!
Fedco trees is a good online source. They love apple trees but have many types of trees, seeds, supplies, root crops, organic supplies, tools. Their paper catalogue is LOADED with information. Well worth requesting. They're in Maine I believe. Have bought trees a few times from them and I'm satisfied with the trees.
IDK my guy - home depot was cheaper than the large nurseries nearby. 6ft strawberry vanilla hydrangea was $120 at the big (200 acre...) nursery and $79 at home depot - identical size. Plus home depot will warranty it but the nursery will only warranty it if they install it.
Hunt around. There are tons of options and lots of good online nurseries. I have a whole favorites page just for them. It does take a little time and studying to find suitable rootstock and varieties to fit your needs. I prefer bareroot trees and shrubs. Good advice on this video. Here in MN there are lots of nurseries that raise plants specifically adapted to the zone and environment. Most will ship bareroot or allow for pickup onsite.
We have zone maps and most varieties tell you when you need a pollinator or they are self pollinated. Most people research their trees and again you can go pick them up at nurseries out of town as well.
Also remember that long-lived perennials like fruit trees are good for your soil in general, and you can companion-plant all sorts of cool things under/around them to make the most of your space. :)
That's true. They're also great at combating erosion problems. The roots secure the soil from washing out in heavy rain, and also help prevent drainage problems. The roots aerate the soil well.
@@TheMillennialGardener absolutely right : )
I bought fruit trees online from the Rain Tree Nursery and Earl May Nursery and they all died after 2 to 3 years. I don’t know maybe Frost got them all. I bought apple trees in Orschlen and Home Depot they're doing fine and growing well.
Another great video my favorite gardening channel ty
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for your support!
Awesome. I will remember this when I am ready to buy trees. Thank you for this videos. 👌
Yes! Exactly. About 8 years ago I bought two apple trees in a big box store. They grew, but never flowered, and then started to die. They are both gone now, I wasted money and time.
From now on, I'm sticking with online nurseries, after researching well before.
Oh, no! I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe it was for the best. Even worse than the trees dying would be the trees establishing well and never fruiting or providing poor fruit. It's so important to buy a tree where the fruit ripens at the "ideal" time. Apples need to mature in that cooler fall weather, so a variety that ripens too early during the heat of the summer, or too late once the frosts start, won't work. It's like threading a needle.
my go to are the local seed store and also the local plant nursery. By far they offer the best variety tailored to the environment, they come with expert advice, and at least in my experience they take off much faster than the big box store fruit trees.
I think box stores selling unfit varieties used to be a bigger issue. The box stores here in South Alabama sell the same varieties as the local nurseries for much cheaper.
That's because a lot of the local nurseries are just resellers, too, and they have higher overhead, so they can't compete with the big box stores on the same price points. The real trick is figuring out who is actually making the grafts, and then you order directly from the places making the trees. That's usually where you get the best selection.
As for tree final size, the label you held told it exactly! Big box has labels that usually have the information you need.
Nice to meet you! This was so helpful! I have subscribed! Looking forward to more new information!!! I'm in Illinois! 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you for subscribing! I appreciate it!
I recommend getting trees from your local nursery that has been in business for awhile, the reason is because thats all they do they know the local climate and know what doesnt work, where as walmart or home depot many irons in the fire and may have mislabeled ,(tag switching) or not compatable stock and you wont know for years that what you got was wrong .. i have had mixed results from dry root..some never sprouted and then its to late to reorder or replant also they will pitch great photos of the fruit with new variety names and features but arent the tried and true that you really should stick with..once again, your local nursey doesnt want to face a local customer that returns to explain why it was below what he expected. So worst is big box ,second is mail order dry root, best is local IMO
If you are mid west or near a tractor supply, they have bare root trees (3 foot) for 12-15 and large potted trees (6 foot) for 30.
I was disappointed in our tractor supply in central connecticut, sold out by mid April on all their fruit trees
@@budbruni4696 Really May is getting to late to plant tbh. Yeah, you've gotta be quick. Most of the 12 dollar ones sold quick or are now dead, since they werent potted.
Hiii! Thank you for your helpful information
You’re welcome! Thank you for watching!
I planted 286 trees laat year when i bought my property i went with a online wholesalers. Willis orchards.
Great info as usual. Just bought 3 bareroot apple trees from century farms orchards here in NC with the exact varieties and rootstock I was looking for.
Such great information! 👍 Thank you! 😊
You are welcome! Thanks so much for watching as always!
As usual, nice video. Up here in Jersey, Lowes is selling their non grafted fruit trees for about $34-$35. Most of the trees are marked with the Pollinators they would need, if they need one. I did hear that each state and even each Lowes can be different. I did notice higher prices on trees at Home Depot though. Keep up the good work.
I always err on the side of caution on those plant tags. I find they are really inaccurate. The zones, cold tolerances, etc. are often generic and way off. They tag the same info for an Owari satsuma as they do with a Eureka lemon, and they’ll tag a Mexican avocado the same as a Guatemalan avocado. I recommend doing your research externally first. If the big box stores happen to get in a variety you want, great, but I wouldn’t buy based off of info on the plant tags.
Thanks for that info. I'll definitely do my research first cause I have heard that before.
Like wise... I bought a "satsuma" from home depot... what kind of Satsuma I guess I'll figure out when it fruits
what do you mean by non-grafted trees?
@@lordofoats non grafted vs trees that are spliced with another type of trees root stock to increase a specific trait.
Just curious, I was in my garden yesterday, and I spotted several tiny figs on one of my 3year old cuttings. Never seen this before this early!
They are breba figs. They’re growing on the cutting, because it is 1 year old wood. You will need to remove them if it is just a cutting, because they will either destroy the cutting if it hasn’t rooted yet or stall it if it already rooted.
I just moved from TN to WI, and while there are some overlap of varieties, those are indoor or tropical plants. I don't see crepe myrtles sold here, for example. But I see a lot of hardy lilac. And I frequent the same stores, HD, or Lowes.
I haven't seen any fruit trees the past 2 years at big box stores except maybe tractor supply had like two plums. And the home Depot like an apple and a pair. I'm here in Maryland
They get them in very early. Here, Home Depot gets apples, pears and plums in stock in January. By the time April rolls around, they're pretty picked over. For cold hardy deciduous trees, they're brought in very early in winter, and then the evergreen stuff like citrus and avocados come in April when the frosts stop. At least that's how it works here.
@@TheMillennialGardener ok I will have to check
0:02 You have one of those faces you look at and tell yourself "he has a good heart" :)
Or buy the root stock you want, and the scion you want and make your own tree... or grow your own rootstock, some rootstocks are easy to grow.
Good presentation! Hello from Food Forest Virginia!
Hello, northern neighbor! Thanks for watching from my food forest to yours!
Costco $20 bare root trees. Found 30 varieties of fruit. Zone 5 Utah
I've never had luck buying fruit trees at big box stores, because the rootstocks are never labeled and they're usually varieties of fruit you can buy in a grocery store or choices that won't work well in my climate. If you can find varieties you desire with labeled rootstocks that are compatible for the size and soil type you want, that's a good deal.
I thought that that trash bag was a rifle stock at first, that genuinely intrigued me. 🤣
As always, another extremely informative video👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻😎😉
I’m glad to hear that! Thanks so much for watching!
Bare roots beat potted trees in size and production within several years. Roughly 75% of way too many potted trees I bought in the past 12 years are dead, half of survivors are either hanging out there or do not produce. Apple trees I grew from seeds are much better looking than most potted apple trees that survived. I planted apple seeds 8 years ago, last year a couple of trees I grew from seeds produced buckets of apples, all taste and look good.
Thank you for that information.
Fantastic advise. As always. Thank you.
I'm glad it was helpful! Thank you for watching!
Any recommendations on online nurseries? Besides "online fruit trees"
Great video!!
Thank you!
You just saved me years of misery and failure. Thank you!
You're welcome! All my trees are already coming to life. It's amazing how quickly these bare root trees come to life!
The commercial orchards plant and buy them by the thousands, tens of thousands.
The growers that are closest to your location grow usually for your region.
Shop locally.
Unfortunately, most regions do not have local nurseries of quality. The nurseries around here just import the same trees that the big box stores do, or they don't have any fruit trees, period. Shopping local means Home Depot for most. Most of the population live in cities and suburbs, so the nearest nursery that actually performs their own grafting can be hours away. If you have one, that's a goldmine, but it's rare and hard to find in today's world. Generally speaking, the nurseries around here strictly sell ornamentals for landscaping. Fruit trees...I can't find them anywhere.
@@TheMillennialGardener we are lucky, C&O, Vanwell, Willow Creek, etc, in Washington, Bylands in BC, Whitfill in Arizona, Dave Wilson in Calif. If one calls the m they tell you who sells at retail levels.
Or ask at the local upicks, they are a good source of their supplier.
Very helpful, in Wilmington also 💪
You're welcome! Hopefully, you stayed warm this morning. My weather station recorded a low of 37 here in Brunswick County. No ground frost, thankfully.
I literally just ordered some fruit trees online a couple of hours before you posted this video. I hope I got the the right ones (zone 8) in central Texas climate with bi-modal wet seasons in spring and fall.
I ordered a Celeste Fig, an Italian Honey Fig, an Issai Hardy Kiwi, and a Persea Avocado Hass. Except for the Avocado tree, (zone 9), all are supposed to work for my zone 8 climate. I was planning on keeping them all in pots since the soils are thin and alkaline but I'm not sure if they all will fruit while living in pots?
I also got the Prime Ark Freedom that you suggested in one of your videos and also a Viccinium "Sunshine Blue" Dwarf Blueberry also for containers. I plan to do most of my gardening in containers unless the plants are known for doing well in thin (less than 1 foot) alkaline soils over limestone epikarst.
Definitely plant the figs in ground. Figs will thrive in your dry summers once established, and do well in alkaline, limestone-y soil, since that is how their native soil often is. Plant them high, and spread 4-6 inches of compost and mulch around the base. Keep them well-irrigated the first few seasons.
The avocado will need to stay in a container. Avocados need to be planted very high in sandy soil, or they will get root rot and die. It's also too cold in your climate. Hass is a Guatemalan variety, so it cannot tolerate cold like the Mexican varieties can. Hass is frost tender, so you'll need to protect it from even a light frost. If you need a frost-tolerant avocado, you must buy a Mexican variety, like my Lila.
Blueberries cannot tolerate alkaline soil at all. Blackberries also prefer acidic soil, but you can plant them on a large compost berm if you choose, which is what I do. Blackberries are cheap enough that I'd risk planting them on a big compost hill and see what happens, but not the blueberry. I don't think it'll have much of a shot without a lot of amending.
Your kiwi will need a sturdy trellis to grow on its a vine plant. They grow pretty fast I got one last year, and its already about 6ft tall and just started coming out of dormancy. Im in zone 8b, Washington state. Good luck with it!
Im surprised you didn't recommend a supplier of bare root fruit trees. What website have you had the best experience with?
I remember one time my mom cut my papaya trees they were like 3 two died one live, and then a few days later I see too baby papayas in my bananas trees pot, so I put it in another pot, which is big cause I like it like that but I do not recommend to buy some fruit trees from a Home Depot. It might die very fast, but nurseries. Take care of the trees more like the Home Depot is focusing on the supplies not on the trees a lot and if my fruit trees have a flower, I take care of it good also like I always do with my trees because I need fruit and did I mention that my grandpa and grandma has a lot of papayas but they have eight papayas 2 mango trees and 1 jackfruit tree but sometimes maybe a Home Depot or a Walmart maybe be good about the fruit trees but the Walmart🫤🫤🫤
Great info sir 👍
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching!
Got you!
Much better method: order bareroot through your real nursery, great selection and information on rootstocks, and non-trimmed roots unlike mail order.
New Subby. Greetings from up the street JAX, NC!
Thanks for subscribing, neighbor!
Thank you.
Hi! I ordered a flamethrower redbud online, but it’s just a stick without any budding, no branches, no leaves! I did cut the top to see if any sign of life, and there is some small green in the center. Any tips to help it grow, would be much appreciated!!!
Can you buy bare root trees year round? Or best during the dormant season?
so many of the big box stores are just bareroot trees potted up that year. I think they hope they will root out in the pot before they sell.
That may be the case. The problem with big box stores is the limited and generic selection, and the total lack of information regarding rootstocks. It isn't correct to just buy a fruit tree and hope for the best. Rootstock selection, variety selection, pollinator compatibility (if necessary) and blooming time are all so important. I had to research for a long time to select apples for my climate, because I need late season varieties that mature when it's cool. A mid-season apple that matured in August or September would be terrible here when it's still 92 degrees outside. There are so many considerations to take into account.
No one asked what “online retailer”??
Thank you , bless you
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
Thanks for the great content, very informative.
Please tell me you have been to green side up garden & gifts.
You are so close maybe 2 hours, it usually doesn’t come up cause it not labeled as a nursery even though it is.
Also, don’t go broke if you go.
I have never heard of it. I'm looking at their Google Maps page. I will say this: if I were a single man, the inside of my house would consist of a fully stocked kitchen, couch, TV, coffee table, bed and probably nothing else. I'm a crazy plant collector, but an indoor minimalist. The indoor trinkets are lost on me, but the outdoor landscaping is intriguing. I'm all about the fruit trees, if they stock them.
Was my favorite place when I live there.
Was a little gem.
I wont ruin it, you gotta check it out!
How are you going to leave out local nurseries? Local nurseries have trees that are suited to your local climate. Price is cheaper than shipping a tree in a container. Local nursery is always going to be my first choice over bare root online, container online, or corporate box.
Because you can't simply recommend "local nurseries." That isn't helpful. Some people may have access to local nurseries. The overwhelming majority, such as myself, have no access to any local nurseries that graft their own trees. This is a video for the 98% that don't have a local nursery that provides fruit trees.
@@TheMillennialGardener Appreciate the reply. I'm not sure where you are getting 98% but I'm sure my perspective is a bit skewed, having only experienced gardening in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. You can't drive anywhere here without running into a nursery, a vineyard, and an orchard or two. I didn't consider that others might not have access.
Could you please tell me the name of the online store/ nursery for yr bare root trees. I want giombo persimmons, asian pear, peach/ nectarines, avocado, apple trees, and cherry. Also where do you get yr figs trees. I can only find brown fig (celeste?). Thank you so much for everything
Where did you get those bareroot trees from? Pretty big!
The apples and peaches are from Cummins Nursery (probably one of the largest apple and peach sellers). The Asian pear is from Burnt Ridge. My blueberries are from Bottoms Nursery. My persimmons are from Just Fruits and Exotics and Plant Me Green. My pawpaw’s are from Peaceful Heritage Nursery. All have been excellent.
Where do you purchase the bear root trees from online?
Thumbnail had me thinking bro was holding the nimbus 2000
What websites do you recommend to purchase from plz?
My best experience has been bare root.
What is a good website to buy bare root pear trees? Thanks
Where do you buy your bareroot trees?
So either BIG BOX store or BIG BUCKS store! Push those big bucks stores!
I’ve had a delivery of bare root raspberries and blackberries… I’m in the uk and it’s extremely wet atm we have had lots of rain, probably the snout we should of had in summer plus what we usually get now. So lot , my point is atm they are all container grown until I get my new raised beds and get them set up. So in the containers im aware that the soil is very wet. Should I hold off planting them and just leave in the package they have come in, until say January when hopefully it be colder and dryer? Or do I take them out the package and wait or do I plant them?
As when I had the obese come earlier this year I just planted and let them get on with it. And they have done well. Even some small fruit which I didn’t expect and left on so as not to stress the plant. I didn’t know it was there till it was lol.
Hey, question- if I’m getting a dormant bareroot rootstock in the mail, should I plant and let the rootstock wake up for a few weeks before I attempt to graft a dormant scion to it?
I plant the bareroot rootstock in a black container, stick it in the sun, and let it warm up and come to life. I believe you want the sap to start flowing before you graft. It should be starting to wake up to grow and fuse with the scion. Spring is the ideal time to graft.
@@TheMillennialGardener thank you
Thanks for this video. I have had mixed success with my fruit trees. I am also in eastern NC, an hour west of Wilmington. What type of fruit trees can I keep in large containers? Is your avocado in one?
My avocado is in-ground. Growing fruit trees in containers is always a challenge. If you do grow in containers, it's generally important to buy varieties grafted onto dwarf rootstocks. they will do better longterm. Citrus grafted onto trifoliate rootstock, for example, do very well in containers. My coffee trees do fantastic in containers. So do figs, but you will need to hard prune them annually very aggressively. Apples and peaches can do well as long as you buy heavily dwarfing varieties, but those will grow effortlessly in ground here, if you have space. The lowest effort fruit trees to grow here are probably persimmons and pawpaw's because they're virtually disease-free and pest-free where we live.
I only buy from Stark Bro's Nursery
What online nurseries does everyone suggest?
Ugh I'm not a fan of bare root. I planted a bare root peach months ago and nothing is happening I feel like it's hit or miss with bare root 😩
Generally speaking, it takes a fruit tree 2 seasons to grow roots. It's normal for a fruit tree not to grow much, if at all, its very first season, because it will spend its first season simply establishing and adapting to the soil. Season 2 is just as slow, because most of the energy is spent growing roots. It isn't until Year 3 that fruit trees tend to really take off. This is not a problem at all. Don't rush them. You shouldn't expect a fruit tree to produce that quickly. If fact, you wouldn't want it to, because chances are it would just overbear and possibly damage itself under the weight of the fruit.
it can take a while, I had a persimmon that "woke" up 5 months into the season and I was sure it was gone. A simple way to see if it's still alive is to make a small (!!) scrap on the bark on one of the branches and see if the layer under (cambium) is green, that means the tree is alive and working on something
If there was a rotisserie chicken in that bag it would be in shreds at my house. XD
I went to an online seller and I received the tree topped because it didn't fit in the box. I will not do that again.
I bought a fruit tree from Harps a year ago and that tree died like a month later -_-