Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
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.
There are few folks I respect more than Prof. Kent, but my experience with Cummins is much different. The trees I have received from Cummins cannot come close to what some folks are seeing from SLN. I have trees in my orchard from Starks, Miller, and Cummins. I have no complaints with any of them, but the Cummins trees have grown the best of all three. This year I have potted three trees for fall transplant, all from Cummins. From left to right: Liberty/P.18 is roughly 4 ft., Goldrush/P.18 has to be almost 8’, and Sundance/B.118 is roughly 5’. I have never been disappointed with the size of a tree from Cummins. I can’t speak to SLN since I have no experience with them.