free trees & plants site

 
Has anyone ordered from this site?  It was listed on a PC newsletter I
get, and I have wondered if what they supply is worth the modest
shipping.  The plants are all bare root but "free", as explained on
their site. http://www.freetreesandplants.com/index.html
I've emailed them a couple of times with questions and have always
received a prompt and very courteous reply, but I have not yet
ordered.  I was thinking of getting some bare root shrubs for this
fall.

Deb

 Here is a good bare root supplier have have used in the past.
http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/

I have no experience with the company you mention.

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and  www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

 Craig said:

This is an old tip that I've never had the occasion to test directly (but I
will comment more after):

Drive a small spade down in one or two spots  around one of your
plants and cut a few roots.  This might shock the plant into ripening
the tomatoes.

OK, this year one of the new varieties I was trying was not ripening any
tomatoes, not even a hint of color, even after all the others were doing
so.  It was so full of green tomatoes that the stake was leaning over
threatening to crash into the fence. (I have electric wires at the top so
this would have been a Bad Thing.)   I drove in a couple of small stakes
to tie off the larger one and stop the leaning.  And shortly after that, a
whole bunch of tomatoes on that plant started turning red.

 Now, I would think this was entirely coincidental, except for having
remembered that old advice.  So I may have unintentionally confirmed it
works.  Or, maybe not.  I doubt it would hurt to try.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)
  
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

 

Two years ago I purchased a number of trees and perennials from them and
after the processing and shipping charges I found that I could have gotten
better plants locally for about the same price. The trees were about a foot
tall after potting them up and the perennials were smaller than plants that
I would normally get from a local nursery or mail order.
I see on the website that they have changed the planting instructions but
when I got mine they came with instructions to pot them up and grow them in
pots till they are big enough to plant in the garden. The trees that I
planted in 5 gallon pots are now large enough that I am thinking about
planting them in the yard this fall.

If you want to support workers with disabilities you could consider what you
pay for the plants as a donation but if you want good strong plants go to a
nursery.

Bill

 
They want only like $7 shipping, you can't drive to the mall for that,
and isn't your time worth anything... I never consider the shipping
costs, especaillly not now that I'm paying well over three dollars a
gallon.

I buy a lot of plants from < http://www.naturehills.com  >, I've nver
been disappointed.  And bare root seedings usually out perform potted
trees from teh loack nursery... the bare root trees begin to grow when
first planted, the potted trees will need a minimum of three years to
revive from transplant shock before showing any growth.  After three
years the bareroot trees are typically larger than the potted
saplings.

I've had no luck with < http://www.arborday.org  > they send dead plant
stock... save your money.