Not impressed.

White Birch Farm

5 year old buck +
I plant a lot of trees and see a lot of variation in size and quality even from individual nurseries. However, I was definitely disappointed in the universally consistently dinky trees I received from SNL. For the most part, they were glorified twigs compared to many of the trees I have received from their competitors, such as Cummins.

I certainly wont lose any sleep over them, as another year will get them to a reasonable size. But, I certainly wont be buying from them again though.
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I don’t blame you. Those are toothpicks. I’ve ordered from from a lot of different nurseries over the years and have seen mixed results. I just eliminate them. Next year I’m ordering from Blue Hills and Turkey Creek.
 
I don’t blame you. Those are toothpicks. I’ve ordered from from a lot of different nurseries over the years and have seen mixed results. I just eliminate them. Next year I’m ordering from Blue Hills and Turkey Creek.

For comparison, these are Blue Hill Pears, Chestnuts and Dolgo Rootstock.

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Bummer about the SNL trees. They may be bigger than the pear trees I got from The Wildlife Group last Spring that came leafed out though.nBpqZDxw.jpeg
 
That's how mine looked too. Hoping it's worth it in the end, but I'm pretty sure I'm done ordering from them. This 1 goes about 28" tall, pencil caliper. Only trees I've received before that are this small are from the same place. I have a Kerr entering 3rd leaf that is 24" tall.

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Yeah I got two WWC from them and one dolgo that look the same caliber as yours. I heard good things but, I am def not happy about what they look like as well, with my soul quality I doubt they will be fruiting for 5-6 years now.
 
MDC bare root seedlings put those in that top photo to shame

bill
 
My SLN order is being shipped this week. The size of your trees pictured White Birch are pretty discouraging but at least the roots look robust enough. Maybe in your soil and longer growing period than most extreme northern New York micro-climates the trees will now really take off. It will be interesting to see how they perform in our individual properties.
 
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Mine were pretty similar. but I haven't done a ton of planting so I didn't have a lot to compare it to.
Couple of mine weren't branched yet.

hopefuly we planted em right and they'll get rocking and rolling.
 
Mine from SLN are smaller than those in the top pic. I got 2 Kerrs and 2 Chestnuts and they are all smaller in diameter than a pencil and no branches on any of them. They’re about 18 inches long and just a slender twig really. I hope they surprise me. Much much smaller than NWC.
 
This is what mine look like
 

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It's sad to see what SLN is shipping these days. When Bill MacKentley owned SLN, their trees were better-sized when shipped. Maybe the new owner, Connor Hardiman, ought to let the trees grow another year before selling them. Pumping them out smaller just to sell them might be an unwise decision. All the trees I bought from SLN since 2013 have done really well with minimal care. I did not purchase any from SLN this year because we're pretty much out of open room. I only bought 1 Sundance from Cummins and it's about 3/4" caliper and branched well.
 
How much are you paying for those trees? I would be pissed!
 
I think they were $23 or $27 a pop... yikes
 
I knew what this thread was going to be about before I clicked on it. I think I started the same thread two years ago. I expressed concern to the owner and he didn’t seem to care much. He did refund me for the one that broke in half in the box. They were all the size of a pencil or smaller. Half of them I had to plant in my home garden for a year. I am sure they will end up fine but for his price they are not acceptable and I will not order there again.
 
well, they're in the ground now. I guess we're looking elsewhere in the future.
 
I think a high demand for a variety and a low production of the variety is what lies behind the small trees. If they don't all sell the first year they are sold the next year, larger. If they still don't sell they are 3-year-olds the next year and probalby sold in 3-gallon pots. When I order, I find that hard-to-find varieties go fast and are small. Nurseries that sell out every year of most or all of their stock typically sell smaller trees. Cummins nursery is liked that. They sell out every year and their trees are typically smaller than trees from Starks or Millers (now Starks), or Grandpa's. You can't tell the nursery to "let it grow another year for me, then ship it". Someone else would buy it. I think (don't KNOW) that a lot of trees sold to the home orchardist are extra trees mass-grafted for commercial orchards that didn't sell and are then bought by the nurseries selling to the public. We home orchardists get the trees left over, sometimes when they are a year or two older.
 
If you are going to buy from SLN, you need to be buying from them for the right reasons. Either you want trees that are on Antonovka seedling rootstock or you want the unusual varieties that only SLN offers. If those two things matter to you, then you take what you get. If you don't care about that, you should be buying elsewhere.

I imagine it would be hard for SLN to give up revenue by growing trees for an extra year or putting money into building inventory to allow that. Northern NY is a miserable climate to run a fruit tree nursery.
 
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I've purchased a lot of trees from SLN and a bunch of trees from other sources as well. If you live in a cold climate they are a great source and I wouldn't be too concerned about what they look like the first year. I agree some of those are smaller than average on top, but the roots look great. I wouldn't be surprised if those are your best looking trees 10 years from now.
 
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