Lowes Fruit trees

[White Oak]

I think this is what you need to do if you buy a big box store tree. Buy them early and get them in the ground early. I have had some success with a few liberty apples purchased from Menards. I have also had a number of Dolgos not make it.

EXACTLY . I know in my area Lowes , Home Depot & Tractor supply get their spring trees in sometime during the last two weeks of February . As of this week all those stores HAVE received their spring trees , so far Walmart hasn't. I try to buy within the first week or two after the shipment arrives to get the freshest and most cared for tree. Depending on the weather I'll keep them in the garage or outside under a car port until I have time to plant them, and as long as I water them, never had a problem. With that said I have bought some mark down trees at the end of summer...and kept them in the pots all winter and planted them in the spring and they have done great too.

I have never bought a "walmart" brand tree.... BUT the Chestnut Hill brand they carry so far seem to be great. Only started planting then in 2019 or 2020 , so time will tell.

 

[cavey]

Genetic-wise the tree is the tree and the quality should be identical apart from what ever root stock they have them on. If they are healthy those little buys can be good deals. I have and will buy trees that way at times just to get a variety I do not have and gain extra scion from the dormant tree. Every bare root tree you buy has some scion to give you!

I do believe mass produced/marketed trees at box stores are not well cared for and are stressed which can induce or make them susceptible to disease post planting till they establish, best part is they are usually in a dormant state. That being said we normally can pick them up in that 14-20 buck range and with some added care will make great trees.

( just beware you may be getting a dwarf rootstock).

 

[bigboreblr]

Certain apples trees need certain amount of cold days to produce flowers for fruit.

Research what you need to get the tree to produce fruit. Variety and what not.

MY house is on an old apple orchard near the hudson river in NY. If I get a mild winter, I barely get any fruit.

 

[TreeDaddy]

Lowes/Walmart trees can be purchased at clearance for as low as 5$/tree if you get lucky on timing the sale

Just be ready to actively resuscitate them and turn your back yard into a TCICU(tree care intensive care unit) for a few months prior to planting them in the field

bill

 

[White Oak]

Lowes/Walmart trees can be purchased at clearance for as low as 5$/tree if you get lucky on timing the sale

Just be ready to actively resuscitate them and turn your back yard into a TCICU(tree care intensive care unit) for a few months prior to planting them in the field

bill

To tell you truthfully I wasn't impressed with this years spring shipment of trees to Lowes & Walmart. While Walmart COULD possible get some more in, I think they only had about a dozen apples trees and they didn't look as good as last years. The only thing decent at Lowes was a few Liberty apple trees. I went to two local Nurseries and they weren't much better...No varieties I was looking for and the woman I can have some left over from last year at LAST YEARS prices of $85.00 and another Local nursery had some apple trees for $59.99

 

[PatinPA]

Lowes/Walmart trees can be purchased at clearance for as low as 5$/tree if you get lucky on timing the sale

Just be ready to actively resuscitate them and turn your back yard into a TCICU(tree care intensive care unit) for a few months prior to planting them in the field

bill

I got 4 plum trees a few years ago for $7 each. Got 3 Mutsu apples, and 2 pear varieties 2 years ago for I think $12 a piece. Wasn't bargain basement but it was all they had left in the fall and I didn't want to miss out on them. Mine are all still alive. I just have yet to get fruit off of them. The plums started to last year but then got hit with black knot pretty bad and not sure if they tree naturally killed the fruit off or what happened but none of it made it past the size of a dime.

 

[Charman03]

With the amount of effort and years required to get a good producing tree I like to get a healthy tree in the exact variety I want. My space is somewhat limited but I’m not using up precious space and lots of a time for a tree that I maybe saved a few bucks on.

 

[bigboreblr]

I was reading about folks on this site not having luck with tractor supply trees. I was in there monday evening looking to get plotspike clover blend, and saw their $15 tree in a small bag. I bought the smallest red delicious. Average 1st frost it 6 weeks away and all their trees had leaves sprouting. So, I planted it in a busted bottom 5 gallon bucket. Likely nurse it till fall. I have crabapple whips I am going to pot this summer, so ill be watering anyways.

See if your guys are right or wrong.

Might plant it at home, might do it at hunting camp. Maybe even my brother in laws AG field.

 

[b116757]

I’ve had poor luck with homedepot trees but good luck with Tractor Supply trees at least at my locality I’m sure where they source trees from for every distribution area matters quite a bit in these things.

 

[Telemark]

I was reading about folks on this site not having luck with tractor supply trees. I was in there monday evening looking to get plotspike clover blend, and saw their $15 tree in a small bag. I bought the smallest red delicious. Average 1st frost it 6 weeks away and all their trees had leaves sprouting. So, I planted it in a busted bottom 5 gallon bucket. Likely nurse it till fall. I have crabapple whips I am going to pot this summer, so ill be watering anyways.

See if your guys are right or wrong.

Might plant it at home, might do it at hunting camp. Maybe even my brother in laws AG field.

If it was the little trees in plastic bags on a stand inside the store, I have one of those. It's a Golden Delicious, and it's doing well, except for a bit of CAR. I planted it out and kept it well watered the first year. It has taken about three years to really get going, but it's going.

If I had it all to do over again, I would probably put it in a root maker pot for the first year just to get the root structure better and get the tree off to a good start.

 

[TreeDaddy]

If it was the little trees in plastic bags on a stand inside the store, I have one of those. It's a Golden Delicious, and it's doing well, except for a bit of CAR. I planted it out and kept it well watered the first year. It has taken about three years to really get going, but it's going.

If I had it all to do over again, I would probably put it in a root maker pot for the first year just to get the root structure better and get the tree off to a good start.

Or maybe one of those 50 cent walmart shopping bag

I've done this with good results

Any container to air prune or trap roots to keep them from circling

bill

 

[H20fwler]

I was reading about folks on this site not having luck with tractor supply trees. I was in there monday evening looking to get plotspike clover blend, and saw their $15 tree in a small bag. I bought the smallest red delicious. Average 1st frost it 6 weeks away and all their trees had leaves sprouting. So, I planted it in a busted bottom 5 gallon bucket. Likely nurse it till fall. I have crabapple whips I am going to pot this summer, so ill be watering anyways.

See if your guys are right or wrong.

Might plant it at home, might do it at hunting camp. Maybe even my brother in laws AG field.

I have had very good luck with potted TS fruit trees, especially pears. If you want some instant gratification they will start producing some fruit within a couple years. I put about ten out early on and mine have done fine, they don't usually have a lot of the cool varieties but scratch the itch until the fancy bare root whips get old enough to start putting fruit on.

 

[bigboreblr]

Just order (25) bare root wild apple trees from saint lawrence nursery. Got about 8 or so really shot apples trees to replace. Probably put another 8 at the hunting lease, which is about 60 miles away from me. Decent possibility my wife will sell her house and move the next year or two, so the rest will stay in pots for a year or two. Got a handful of 8 gallon pots. The tree replacements will go right in the round. Hunting lease ones will be nursed in 1 gallon pots until fall.

 

[White Oak]

I started with 10 pear trees from wildlife Group. Two were pretty small and sickly looking when I got them and they died the first year. I replaced those with two potted trees from Home Depot but planted them in a different spot. They died quickly. I have since added Seven more from wildlife group and they’re doing great. When I told my brother the landscaper about my trees he said he’d never buy a big box store tree. They store them on pallets on the parking lot or on outside Concrete. He said heat From the parking lots bakes the roots and most never Survive. It’s just his opinion but it makes sense.

What variety of pears did the Wildlife Group send you that were small and sickly ?. I'm thinking of placing a order with them next year and always heard positive things.

 

[hunts_with_stick]

lowes and home depot guarantees thier trees for a year. I have bought over 20 and they have all done OK for me. I bought all of them at the end of the season when they were on sale. maybe I got lucky? I have also bought from nurseries and actually had three die from them. The others I bought have taken forever and a day to grow, whereas the ones from the big box stores tend to be larger. That being said, if i can get a good deal at either big box or a nursery I'd buy from either.

 

[b116757]

I have an order in for the late drop pear package from Wildlife group the chestnuts I got from them last year where fine trees.

 

[buckdeer1]

I found several apple trees at walmart last year that must have been special as they had 2 different labels on them

 

[bigboreblr]

white oak,

did you get any of those trees last year?

 

[OakSeeds]

Several great observations on this thread .... Telemark & double T noting it's all about who's minding the store (h2o ing the stock.) Tree D intensive-care operation is spot on and hey .... you know there are multiple types of tag/price changers ... some to cheat the store and others who visualize your reaction to learning "whoa, it ain't whaI I thought it was." If they are deeply discounted, you clean them up nice in your "arbor-clinic, and the tag doesn't say grapes .... you'll probably be OK.

 

[buckdeer1]

Noticed today the trees hit Walmarts in Kansas,High 20s tonight