Looking for bare root fruit tree supplier

I am looking for a good bare root supplier of fruit trees. My Google Fu comes up with a huge number of them. Some of them are really expensive, like more than what I can get a potted fruit tree of the same variety for locally if I wait until spring. I am trying to make this go on a budget, so I'm hoping to save some money by going bare root. I did purchase some last year from an online company, and the results were less than stellar. The reviews of that company look horrible over the last year, so I was not alone there.

Does anyone have a good supplier in mind that has decent stock for a good price? Thanks in advance.

Steve

I can tell you who not to buy bare root trees from. I failed to do my homework, bought trees, and most died, and I blame lousy stock. The bare roots, there was hardly anything there. They looked like a sapling with a club foot. This company has over 200 BBB complaints and more bad reviews elsewhere on the internets. I must add that I did call them about this, and they gave me a store credit for every tree that didn't make it. The blueberry bushes I purchased from them did fine and all survived, and I will use my store credit on more blueberry bushes. Anyone can PM me and I will tell them which nursery this is.

My favorite supplier of bare root plants is my local retail nursery.  They are a fairly small operation and they depend on satisfied customers.  The employees are knowledgable and helpful.  The nursery guarantees its plants.  A customer is able to order trees in advance but can also come to the nursery and choose individual trees out of their displayed stock, which is still stored in damp sawdust, and not put into individual pots.  You can examine the roots as well as the graft and upper growth.  Yes, you will pay for this kind of service but to me it is worth it.  On the whole,most fruit trees cost $25.00 each.  I know there are reliable mail order suppliers and I would like to get cheaper trees, too, but I no longer am willing to take a chance on quality.

Here's a pdf of MS certified nurseries and nursery dealers. http://mdac.ms.gov/wp-content/uploads/bpi_nurserybook.pdf

It's 82 pages so that should give you something. Who's to say if any of them ship and I don't know if they'd be bare root or in a pot. It's never a bad idea to buy within your area as you know it will be adapted to the area.

Here's another from the Forestry Service and mostly bare root. Not all are in MS but in the SE at least. Some are natives like oak, pecan etc but I do see some commercial type fruits. http://www.cfr.msstate.edu/forestry_extension/MTN4E.pdf

I searched for "Mississippi state nursery"

i got chestnut trees from w va state nursery program for about 50 cents per plant, state of tn program ran out of chestnut by time i had money to buy them. Let them grow naturally after planting and at least 80 percent still alive. got peaches, cherries, apples and grapes from ty ty ga. 2+ years ago only about 25 percent have survive. we were very careful to follow the suppliers instructions on planting and had to set up drip irrigation and still only 25 percent survived, they were very expensive trees and won't and can't do that again. the state dept of forestry nursery programs are a great thing to look into. they have many different species and the cost is very low and they are in many times grown in the same type soil and conditions that you have being a fairly local source. 20+ years ago I bought bought 500 peach and cherry trees from oregon. cant remember the farm, they were spectacular. at least 1 foot taller than advertised and cost was very fair about $5 for 8'-10' bare root peach trees. unfortunately that was different farm and I no longer have acess, live and learn.
This is probably a good time of year to order although early bird gets worm.

good luck with it, one of the best investment to your property in my opinion are trees that produce crop for many many years

oh thought i'd add this
when planting you might want to incorporate some biochar into planting hole. biochar lasts long long long time and make everything grow better

Raintree Nursery has great trees and a huge selection.  Pretty expensive. I usually buy there. I’d like to find someplace cheaper. Most cheaper places have terrible reviews.

Edible Landscaping Nursery has potted trees from small to huge. Very healthy plants. I think the smaller ones are pretty competitive with bare root. I’d rather plant a slightly smaller potted tree than a bare root.  Bare root is fine, but a smaller potted tree will catch up usually.

I get mine from groworganic.com (Peaceful Valley), which sources them from Dave Wilson. It seems out here on the west coast, everything is Dave Wilson or Stark Bros in the end. I'd still love to find a supplier that can give me smaller, younger trees.

https://blogs.cornell.edu/berrynurseries/nurseries/#LE%20Cooke

Check out the link above for a pretty nice list.
I have gotten some really good plants from One Green World, StarkBros, Edible Landscaping, and Norse Farms.  

Kyle, I, too, get Dave Wilson trees at my nursery, which is Front Yard Nursery located in Placerville.  I had wanted a sour cherry but did not want to advance-order one as I wanted to be sure I would get the size I was after.  Many of the trees in the big box were at least a foot taller than the one I chose.  Granted, they were all the same age.

Jane: Nice! I love Front Yard. I got a bunch of plants from them last year. I might hit them up again this spring when they've got their bare root in stock again. In the meantime, I've been rooting some stock cuttings (M-111) and am germinating some local apple seeds. I figure in a couple of years I can graft my own smaller trees if I can't find a convenient supplier.

Thanks for the replies. John, I had not seen those lists before. Thanks for sharing those. I have several trees on my 20 acres, but lost several a few years ago to a fire, and am looking to replace them. I like fruit trees because I believe that planting plants that provide food is just smart. I do have some ornamental/flowering plants for my bees as well.

Thanks everyone for the info/links.

Kyle, I'm doing the same thing... growing apples from seed which I want to use for grafting experiments in future.  This may be an answer to the original point of this post.  Fruit trees grown from seed, which thrive, are therefore well suited to one's own growing conditions.  And, they're free.

Another point about local nurseries is that you may be able to find off season bargains there. One local big box place will NOT sell anything at a discount, even ragged plants that can be saved. They are all thrown away.  My local nursery has their "bargain basement" where tired plants (annuals, perennials, and trees) are discounted.  Two years ago I got a potted Honeycrisp apple for $15.00, a $10.00 savings. Some of their perennials are discounted $3.00-4.00.  

I've had very little luck with that at local nurseries. One of the big box stores doesn't sell them at all. The other one, I just haven't timed well.

Jane Reed wrote:Kyle, I'm doing the same thing... growing apples from seed which I want to use for grafting experiments in future.  This may be an answer to the original point of this post.  Fruit trees grown from seed, which thrive, are therefore well suited to one's own growing conditions.  And, they're free.

Another point about local nurseries is that you may be able to find off season bargains there. One local big box place will NOT sell anything at a discount, even ragged plants that can be saved. They are all thrown away.  My local nursery has their "bargain basement" where tired plants (annuals, perennials, and trees) are discounted.  Two years ago I got a potted Honeycrisp apple for $15.00, a $10.00 savings. Some of their perennials are discounted $3.00-4.00.  

State nurseries are a good way to go for very cheap.  Burnt Ridge, Raintree, and One Green World are great for unusual edibles, but normally not the cheapest. Fall is a great time to buy left over plants for cheap-many sales.  Spring has the best selection. TyTy has had a terrible reputation for an extremely long time.  
JohN S
PDX OR

Most bare root trees are going to be under three years old and that means around 5 years to first fruit that you can let grow to harvest size.

The BB stores here usually have a fair selection of stone fruit varieties and apples that are 5 years old, in pots and usually a 15 dollar each price tag (Home Depot, Lowe's and Walmart).

Unless you are planning to plant a large number of trees and wait the years it will take for them to be old enough to bear good fruit, you might want to consider buying smaller potted trees instead of bare root trees.

The others have already listed the really good suppliers.

I have had excellent luck with the state nursery here in Missouri. They are very affordable and you can even order in bulk to lower your price point per tree. I have had excellent survival rates.

https://mdc.mo.gov/trees-plants/tree-seedlings/order-seedlings

Almost every state forestry commission has a tree program that has native species for sale in lots, you place your order along with payment and go where you can pick them up or you go to that place and place your order, pay and take them home.
Arkansas for example, sells in lots of 25, 50, 300, 500 or 1000 trees per species. prices per lot start at 20 dollars with some species being as high as 40 dollars (prices are for 25 seedling trees).

Usually you can get timber, nut, fruit and berry trees that grow in that state.

Redhawk

For us the small family owned nurseries is where I have found some the most interesting and Unusual fruit and nut trees Like Burnt Ridge Grimo's nut nursery and Hidden Spring and England's Orchard and Nursery  it is just a few that we have worked with and over All I have been very pleased in the past

Sure everyone gets a bum tree occasionally but these nurseries will stand behind there products that I have seen

But it is the planting care than is given that is the most important and we have planted hundreds and have about 20 acres of fruit and nut trees planted on our farms with most of it just beginning to come in to production

Like Jujubes we ate and gave away locally sure we sold some also

SO alternatively speaking some of the best fruit come from some of the worst looking trees that we grow

Thank you

Cliff

Hi,

Every county around here has a spring and fall tree sale. Fruits are in the spring. I just completed this year's order from the Washtenaw County Conservation District. Each year the quality received is better than described. Fruit tree-wise I ordered 4 Black Cherry at 3/4" caliper and 25 each of sets of Chester Blackberry and Prelude Raspberries, for a bit over $200. The berry sets I got last spring fruited the first year!

https://www.washtenawcd.org/2018-tree-sale.html

I am still working on my order for this year to St. Lawrence Nurseries, which specializes in cold-adapted fruits, nuts, and berries. Their shipments have previously been very professional. I am for certain ordering 10 Buartnut and 10 Heartnut, which are new and scarce offerings. In those numbers the Buartnut is $10.50 for a 3-5' tree and the Heartnut are $15 each. These are two new trees for them, and me. This company has many varieties of apples and is the only place that offers Sweet Sap Silver Maples, with 3-5% sap sugar content that are tappable at 8-10 years. These are tempting, but I am 70 🙀

They have quite a few plums and pears, as well.

https://stlawrencenurseries.com/

I also often order from Cold Stream Farms, in Michigan. They have the best prices I have seen for what they carry, but none of it is named variety and that sort of thing. Good selection of native fruit and nuts, but seed grown from wild, so you can't be sure what's going to become of the pretty flowers. If you are looking for fast height, I have some four year old Black Locust from here that are already thirty feet tall, from original 3-4' sticks with roofs. I've put several thousand of their fruit and nut babies in the ground in the last three years: native Apricots, Plums, Persimmon, Hazelnut, and more.

Low prices and steep price breaks at 25 and 100 trees. Any problems I have had with their trees have solely been due to my ordering too many at once and taking too long to get them in place. Example: American Persimmon, 1-2' length, from $5.20 for one to $1.33 each for 100.

https://www.coldstreamfarm.net/

The Missouri Department of Conservation is not fruit or nut oriented, except for acorns, but they have some and, wow, the prices! They are currently out of wild Plum and Paw Paw for this spring, but they have Northern Pecan and other things - at a shocking price of $10 for 25 trees or $3 for 100. Seriously!

https://mdc6.mdc.mo.gov/Applications/TreeSeedling/

Don't know exactly what you may be looking for, but check out Superior Trees in Lee, Florida (http://www.superiortrees.net/index.html).  They are in a zone warmer than you, but they carry TONS of natives that should work throughout the southeast USA.  I've ordered 100's of trees from them with very few of them dying.

jiovi®at Foxgreen Farm in Maine
I'd like to put in a plug for jiovi® in Maine.  www.jiovi.com webpage
We've been in business for 20 years.  We began by selling seabuckthorn seeds 20 years ago and have expanded greatly since then.  

Spring shipping starts next month for bare root trees.  Potted plants can be purchased on the farm most of the rest of the growing season.  We're very proud of the business we have built and the thousands of plants shipped to our customers each year.   Every year we offer a special deal to Permies.com members and this year it is 26% off your entire order, no limit.  It applies to both seeds and plants.  Enter "permies26" in the discount code area at checkout or just click this link Discount link and the code will automatically be added to your cart.  Make sure to add your email to receive news and additional special event notices when you visit jiovi® or just click this link for the newsletter sign up jiovi® newsletter signup

Grow Organic/Peaceful Valley is my go-to source. Never got a bad tree from them.

Avoid TyTy Georgia and Willis Orchards. Gurneys is also lousy.

Here's a big fancy Review Grid of a bunch of plant/seed suppliers that we started a month ago.  Check it out for good places to buy.

At the bottom is a note from Nicole with how to create a new listing.  So if you have a minute, follow those instructions to review a company for the grid.  Low scoring reviews are also very helpful so please review even the companies you didn't like to deal with.

Though I unfortunately live too far away to order here, Trees of Antiquity (mail order and CA nursery) has a fabulous online site with a search function to select your hardiness zone, pollination windows, harvest times, fruit storage, etc and also a load of information about and pictures of each cultivar they sell.