Choosing a Nursery for Fruit Trees

An orchard can only be as good as the quality of its young trees. A planting begun with poor-quality trees may never recover. Buy the best trees that you can. Bargain or low-priced trees are often more costly in the long run. Fortunately, most nurseries are honest, but accidents can occur. Growers should be aware of a nursery's policies on replacing incorrectly labeled trees.

When ordering trees, choose a nursery carefully. Ask if the nursery has the cultivar and strain, rootstock, tree size and quality that you want and if there are enough in stock to meet your needs. You could end up with a spacing problem in your orchard because you have planted a mixed block of cultivars, strains, and rootstocks. You're better off in delaying your planting for a year until you are able to get exactly what you want. Don't accept an undesirable cultivar-rootstock combination.

Information that comes word of mouth and other growers' experiences can be of invaluable help when deciding on a nursery. Most nurseries realize that the best advertisement for their product is a satisfied customer.

Talk to growers who have ordered from a nursery you do not know. Ask about the condition of trees on arrival and about problems in ordering or receiving the trees. It's also a good idea to visit the nursery, if at all possible. Nurseries usually welcome anyone interested in their operation.

Another factor to consider before ordering trees is the nursery guarantee concerning survivability, quality, and trueness to name. All Pennsylvania tree fruit nurseries that sell to commercial growers participate in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Certification Program. These nurseries guarantee their trees to be true to name and free from all disease and insect problems. Some nurseries in other states also have their own certification programs. You would be wise to ask the nursery if it participates in a certification program. If not, ask if it has its own guarantee.



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