Here’s an entry from the horticulture police files: 
How much convenience shopping do we need?
Who actually heads down to the local warehouse grocery to pick up a set of radials and a six-pack of trees? I really shouldn’t be surprised; after all, this store sells everything from diapers and baby formula to caskets and cremation urns, so it must be logical to expect people to impulse purchase a plant that can live to 100 years or longer.
But when did Bridgestone get into the nursery business? They aren’t rubber trees – I checked. They’re fruit trees, poor things, bagged bare-root for sale at pennies on the pound.
You be the judge – do we really need to offer trees where we can buy sausage and auto parts?
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Love it. Thanks for putting this thought out there.
If more people are inclined to plant fruit trees if they can get them conveniently and on the cheap doesn’t it help your cause? I bought five of them yesterday and I’m excited to add them to my orchard. They do look small and stressed, but if a few of them live it will be worth the savings.
That’s a great point, Chris, and one I hadn’t thought of. I was considering the pitfalls of having trees sold at prices far below what local nurseries can sustain. But you bring up a very valid point, thanks! Soak those roots for a few hours before you plant them, and be sure you don’t put them in too deep.
I appreciate your opinion on this subject. Being a nursery owner myself, I get what you’re saying. To keep from having to compete too much with the big box stores like the one you’re writing about, I offer plants those stores don’t usually have. So far they haven’t put me out of business, but others haven’t been so blessed.
This is what I worry about, Sharon, that local nurseries can’t compete. Plus I checked the varieties and, although the apples looked like they’d be good for our area, the cherries left me wondering if they’d be successful.