In our Menards store we have so nice varieties of apples that it was really hard to resist buying some. We have Zestar, Honeycrisp, Snowsweet, Candycrisp, Fuji, Gala, Sweetsixteen and some others I do not remember. They are big and well formed trees. With my whips from Raintree I am about 2 years behind. And they cannot cross pollinate my two other apple trees as it was planned. Well, lesson learned…
Wow…that is a nice selection. Too bad we don’t have a Menard’s around here.
Antmary…what do the trees sell for at Menard’s? I wonder if they also offer the 1 year guarantee like the other BB stores?
I just checked for the closest store and it’s 3 hrs. away in Massilon,OH. Darn it.
They sell them around 22-24$ I do not remember for sure. Menards is a really BB store in our area, bigger then Lowe’s or Home Depot. I usually do not buy plants in it, so I do not know if they have 1 year warranty on them. To bad that they do not list varieties of plants on their web site, like Lowe’s does. This year the managers did really good job there.
I got my nadia in this week on thurs. and going to plant it today. I took a pic of mine with
the roots which had some damage. There was a big gash all the way around one of the roots
between the red arrows and had to cut the root off that’s within the red circle I put on the picture. Doesn’t look like a lot of root is there to me.
My question is what do any of you think I should do to the branches on the top of the tree if anything at all?
Thanks
My top was similar to that. I cut off the top 1.5’ of the main trunk and have 4 branches coming out for scaffolds. There are too many limbs on them the way they come. Your roots are not as good but the tree should still do fine, thats just one spot.
If you want an open center, which works well for most fruiting trees, then pick out 3-4 branches and cut right above that.
As far as your roots, as long as they aren’t rotted (black, dried, etc) when you cut into them you’ll be just fine. This year I kind of did my own little experiment concerning that very issue. A lot of people complain about that stuff, thinking that if they have tons of roots they will be things better off than of they only had a few. I planted various trees, some with tons of roots, some with very few, some I had to do severe root pruning to prevent issues later on, etc. Every single one of them that I dug up this season to replant in pots had tons of new roots. And if you were group them by caliper you would be hard pressed to notice any difference in root growth.
This is my Nadia. I left lower 4 branches and pruned off the bushy top. I planted it in the ground, I hope it will be hardy enough.
Looks good Antmary…nice rich black soil you have there.
This year is the first time I’ve ordered from Raintree. I haven’t received my order yet because I’m on the tail end of the shipping schedule. I hope they can fill the order. Sometimes I get the feeling that retailers in this business give priority to shipping order, rather than “first come, first served.” Many times, from other retailers, I’ve gotten partial orders with packing slip stating that things were out of stock. Is this because they end up with more bad stock than the statistical norm? It seems to happen to me frequently. In some cases they don’t clarify whether the out-of-stock item will be sent later or it is completely canceled from the order. I often wonder why they couldn’t send me an earlier notice so I could change plans accordingly.
I’ve noticed that all branches are typically left on the large caliper trees. I guess this is to allow more flexibility for shaping the tree. In my case, I would cut off all the lower branches. I prefer the scaffolds to start around 4’ so I can deal with the wildlife issues. The only thing I don’t like is that most of the branches are at narrow crotch angles. I’m starting to develop a preference for smaller caliper whips. I stick them in pot for the first year and grow them to the shape I want. Then I plant them in their final location following year.
Did any of you from northern states get a shipping confirmation last Friday May 1st? After they botched my order and missed the April 17th ship date they assured me it would go on the next refrigerated truck to Chicago which I thought was May 1st. I did not get a shipping confirmation.
Yes, I got a UPS notification friday evening for expected delivery this tuesday.
I did too.
Oh man! Looks like I’m in for more heartbreak. I’m beginning to think that pluot and nectaplum tree might not be destined for 2015 planting. They did bill my credit card though…
1 Like
Don’t get too strung out just yet. I got my order from them the same day you did over a month ago. The day before it arrived, I got a message saying that it would be shipped the end of the month. So, I didn’t expect it until later. I just glad that we were home and not out of town when it got here. I never did get a confirmation that it had actually shipped.
Their notification to me was a bit strange too. I got a UPS email on Friday 4/17, the day it was supposed to ship. It said that it would arrive on Tuesday, 4/21. They didn’t actually deliver the package to UPS until the day it was supposed to be delivered, then it reached me 2 days later on Thursday. This all happened more than a month after I planted 95% of the trees I ordered.
That’s nice. 
I ordered roostocks along with trees. I wish I split the order. I could have had the rootstocks potted and grafted a long time ago.
Yep. Tracking info doesn’t indicate it has actually shipped yet.
Hi all, my Raintree order is due this week. I have never had a problem with Raintree. and they have replaced two of my trees that died. I have no complaints with them. Mrs. G