CrazyEd
5 year old buck +
Hi Everybody, This is my first time on a discussion forum. The prevailing wisdom in the new world of social media and instant discussions is for a business to not respond. I guess I am breaking this bit of wisdom. Rather than get into a he said, she said debate with Dipper, I will try to address a few horticultural issues instead.
Rootstocks..... MM111, M.7, MM.106, M.9, M.26.... These are all clonal rootstocks and are grown in stool beds. One of the traits that these rootstocks exhibit is the ability to send out roots and the ability to sucker. Suckering and root initiation are really nice for the rootstock grower, but they are not desirable in the orchard. Burr knots or root initials can really be a problem on these rootstocks http://www.extension.org/pages/60605/burr-knots-on-apple-trees#.VXzR6edF9sU The Geneva rootstocks are great in the orchard for many reasons, but they are not friendly to either nurseries or rootstock propagators. One of the traits that Dad (Dr. Jim Cummins) selected against were burr knots. Burr knots are super for easy and heavy rooting, hence a beautiful looking stock such as MM.111 for the grafter. Geneva rootstocks do not have big heavy root systems as a general rule. Because they do not have heavy root systems, they require extra care at the time of grafting and especially at the time of planting. OHF pears are produced via hardwood cuttings. A cutting is taken from an established mother plant and is then rooted. The rooted cutting is then grown for a full season. OHF pears have a very coarse root system (not many small fibrous roots that look so nice on MM.111) Like the Geneva rootstocks, pears must also be given extra care at the time of planting and subsequent weeks. Essentially, different rootstocks are different.
Replacement policy..... When there is an issue we like to look at each case individually. Unlike many of the large nurseries, we don't simply send a replacement tree. Unless there are multiple reports of a variety/rootstock combination having trouble, we ask that the customer assume some of the risk of survival. If we feel that the customer is probably at fault, we ask that they assume the cost of shipping, and we will assume the cost of replacement. Planting a tree is like following a souffle recipe. Not performing one step properly can cause the souffle to fail.
Customers and Service.... I doubt if there is a nursery in the country that gives more service than Cummins Nursery. When you call or write to us, you are not communicating with a secretary, you are communicating with Alan, Tino, Dr. Cummins or myself.... a lot of experience. Literally, tens of thousands of emails and phone calls each year and we grow the trees! Most of our customers purchase less than 100 trees at a time so the "little grower" is our bread and butter. We think that our customers have the coolest hobby that there is and this is why we give as much personal touch as we can.
Dipper, I'm sorry that you had an unpleasant experience with us. You lost 4 OHF rootstocks out of 10. You wanted a refund. I stated that we would ship you 4 replacements next spring if you would cover the cost of the shipping (or throw them in with an additional order). I did go out and check the OHF rootstocks in our nursery that we planted a month ago. Your stock and our stock were all from the same source that we bought in from the west coast. Out of 1500 (ungrafted stock or liners) planted we lost 3 so I stand by my statement that something on your end was probably to blame. Pear stock are not the easiest to transplant and when you throw a graft onto the plant that is just one more step for failure. On the bright side you did get 6 out of 10 to survive and that really is pretty good for a pear graft. I hope we can shake virtual hands and move on.
Thanks for your time everyone.
Steve Cummins
Thanks for the post Steve, and welcome to the forum. I know you're a busy guy and have a busy crew but if you guys ever have time to swing by and post some tidbits, we would love to hear it!
Thanks!