Badgersett Research Farm from MN, USA

I give this tree nursery 1 out of 10 acorns  

Website: Badgersett.com
Location: 18606 Deer Road, Canton, MN 55922

Shopping experience:  
The website is a bit dated and hard to navigate.  But there is a lot of information about their hybrid nuts and the work they're doing to breed machine harvestable hazelnuts.

Prices:
Seem to be a bit high but since it was cutting edge plant material I felt it was worth it.

Ordering Process:  
Relatively cumbersome.  You have to copy/paste a block of text into an email and send that to them.  It took a reminder email to them to trigger a PayPal funding request.  I paid via PayPal and the order was complete.

Delivery:
This is where I ran into a serious problem.  I ordered $120 of hazelnut and pecan seedlings in March 2017.  It's now Jan 10, 2018 and I haven't received them.  I realize they won't ship in the winter but you would expect that they'd ship from Minnesota somewhere in the April/May timeframe.

Communication:
Once the PayPal payment went through I never heard a thing from them.  No confirmations, no updates, nothing.  I've sent about 10 emails to them without a response.  They don't list a phone number so I can't call.  I did dig around an older website of theirs to get a number and it was out of service.

Other comments:
I filed a complaint with the WI department of consumer protection.  They couldn't get a response from the company so they punted it to Minnesota.  They could only "document it" because I'm not a MN resident.  Their Better Business Bureau listing confirms my experience isn't an outlier.  

If other folks have reviews to add on this supplier, please "keep it nice".

I give this nursery 2 out of 10 acorns.

I've had a similar experience, albeit not quite as bad, I did actually get my plants. They came way later in the year than they said, during the middle of an exteremely hot droughty summer, and most of them died soon even though I was watering them regularly. The surviving hazelnuts and chestnuts from Badgersett have not done as well as ones from other sources including Oikos Tree Crops that I planted the same year. They wouldn't respond to me either, I won't be ordering from them again.

I'm sorry if I'm piling on Badgersett but in case people think that Richard and I are the only ones who have had issues with them, here's a review page on Dave's garden.  I'm truly hoping this follows the "be nice" rules because I want to save other people from the angst I've been dealing with.  If it isn't nice, please remove this post and accept my apology.  Thanks!

I give this company 1/2 of an acorn out of 10


I have been trying to post a negative review on this website for a couple years now about this company. Everytime it is removed for not being nice. Basically I just want people to watch out when ordering from them, it's going on 4 years now and I still am waiting for plants or a refund. What this company gets away with is borderline criminal if not criminal. Buyer beware! I am sorry if it isn't nice but people are being taken advantage of!  

Thanks for adding the review John.  I don't see it on the Official seed/plant source review grid yet and I suspect the acorn score has to be a whole number.  I believe 1 is the lowest number available.  So if you don't mind, could you edit your post to change the 1/2 to a 1?  Thanks!

Mike Jay wrote:Thanks for adding the review John.  I don't see it on the Official seed/plant source review grid yet and I suspect the acorn score has to be a whole number.  I believe 1 is the lowest number available.  So if you don't mind, could you edit your post to change the 1/2 to a 1?  Thanks!

I'm pretty sure one could give them 0 or even decimals. On behalf of John French, and a test, I give this seed source 0.5 out of 10 acorns. Decimals seem to show up, but let's find out!

Thanks Nicole, it looks like that works.  I did realize that only the 25 folks with the most reviews show up on the page so John's and Richard's reviews may be in the system, just not showing because they're off the screen to the right.  All is well in the world

I'm sorry to say I have had a similar experience.  I heard a podcast interview, and got really excited, ordered $90 worth of plants in early 2015.  I needed them to arrive during a particular week, and when it was obvious that would not happen, We agreed over e-mail that they would ship in 2016.  After that, no response to multiple e-mails asking for an update, etc. It's a shame, Phil Rutter's interviews and seminars really are inspiring.  But if you actually want hazel's, I wouldn't try to order from them!

I give this nursery 1 out of 10 acorns.
.  I had heard of another permie who ordered and actually received their hazelnuts.  I ordered about $400 worth of hazelnuts and chestnuts around December 2016.  Money was accepted, plants were never delivered; multiple emails and phone calls were never answered, then finally one email in spring 2018 was answered, a Badgersett representative stated that 'all backordered plants will be shipped this spring.'  No plants still.  I gave 1 rather than 0 because it seems in the past they used to actually ship plants when plants were ordered, but I strongly recommend spending your plant money elsewhere.

The Experimental Farm Network has Badgersett hazelnut seeds available now for spring shipment if folks are interested.  I've never had anything but wonderful experiences with EFN.

EFN is great. I wonder how they managed to get seeds from Bagersett?

I sure hope they have the seeds in hand and aren't counting on Badgersett to deliver them...

Mike Haasl wrote:I sure hope they have the seeds in hand and aren't counting on Badgersett to deliver them...

I recently watched a presentation by the Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative, and they mentioned EFN or one of their suppliers worked out a deal to access the Badgersett plantings to harvest seed nuts from the best specimens. Also mentioned that the guy who ran Badgersett has had some serious health issues, has fallen on hard times, etc.