North Central Reforestation Inc.

[Rit]

I did a search on this site and found a few mentions of NCR and even less reviews. Anyone used these folks recently with a story to tell good or bad? Looks like they have had a change in ownership and are suffering a bit of technical difficulty with their website. They have some plug sizes that I have never seen but the pricing seems fair.

I personally like plugs over bare root. I have killed plenty of both.

 

[Rit]

While we are at it maybe drop your opinion on plugs vs bareroot.

 

[Freeborn]

NCR was just sold last year. Dave and Michele who ran it for many years are no longer involved. My place is very close to their original location but the whole operation is moving to a new location.

Historically they have been great but from what I have heard the new owner has more money than sense so time will tell.

The benefit to plugs is their ease of planting, much easier to plant several hundred plugs when compared to bare root

 

[Nova]

I bought bare root oaks from them 2 years ago and they were really nice trees and great people to deal with, but yeah they sold out so I have no idea now days.

 

[bowhunternw]

Same story from me, good luck in the past. Who knows now

 

[bwoods11]

I live one hour from the old location. I have not heard much since the new owner took over.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I was not impressed with their plugs at all the one time we used them. Itasca Greenhouse has superior plugs if you ask me.

 

[Rit]

Itasca went through an ownership change also. I am not a fan of their minimum order. I ordered 300 plugs from them 3 years ago. They were very nice plugs well packaged. All but 2 died due to drought and my negligence. But I did like them. I am at the point where I don’t want to plant hundreds of trees anymore.

Thanks for the input fellas. I’ll give them a call and try them out. I am looking at only ordering a few plugs.

I learned today that a pound of Red Osier Dogwood seed has around 18,000 seeds. Pretty sure the price was $72. I may be taking a new approach all together. I have a swamp thicket that is full of buckthorn, elm, and Hawthorne. I wouldn’t mind broadcasting ROD in there to see if I can get any going. They seed source also has all types of other great habitat bush seeds. If I could get these started it would be a lot of fun to transplant these where I want them.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Good luck getting trees. They are almost out for spring. You need to order by September-October to get what you want. Since the new owners and the focus on bigger plugs I like them a whole lot more. I had awesome survival last year.

 

[bueller]

I've gotten plugs from NCR for a few years now. Excellent survival rate even in my sand. I contacted the new owner a couple weeks ago about their online inventory numbers being so low. He told me that the online numbers are not correct and to call and inquire about what I want to order.

 

[john volkman]

i bought some from them last year and had good luck with them, i bought from itasca in the past and switched to NCR since they could ship in the plug containers and i could plant as i had time and water them in the trays if i dint get them in the ground.

 

[Rit]

I called last week and they didn’t really have any plugs left. Not sure if they sold out or if they didn’t have the inventory. It didn’t sound like they were going to have the bigger plugs anytime soon.

They did have bareroot trees available.

 

[john volkman]

i talked with them today and ordered 600 plugs, spruce , birch and tamarack. So they must at least have those specs left, i didnt ask about any others.

 

[Rit]

Hmm I specifically asked about Norway Spruce. Is that what you ordered?

 

[john volkman]

Hmm I specifically asked about Norway Spruce. Is that what you ordered?

i ordered white spruce

 

[Rit]

Oh okay I asked about Red Osier, American plum, ERC, and Norway Spruce.