The L.E. Cooke Co is a wholesale grower that sells to retail nurseries, wholesale nurseries and commercial farmers. We do not sell to individuals unless they are buying large enough for commercial farming.

The purpose of minimum order values is to cover the overhead of setting up accounts and the inherent paperwork that goes with any sized order.

We encourage new or small nurseries to order from us and deliberately keep the order minimums low. After experiencing the quality of trees and helping you become successful with our products, we know your orders will increase in size over the years.

To ship on the pool trucks within California there is a $1,000 minimum order. For Out of State shipments the minimum pool truck order is $1,200. If your order value is less, we may impose additional handling fees for pool truck shipping or if your shipment can fit in UPS sized packages, we may waive most minimum order sizes for valid nursery accounts.

Minimum order for a commercial farmer is $1,200 with multiples of 10 of a variety.

The L.E. Cooke Co is a wholesale grower that sells to retail nurseries, wholesale nurseries and commercial farmers. We do not sell to individuals unless they are buying large enough for commercial farming.

Minimum order is $1,200 for a farmer with multiples of 10 of a variety.

If this fits into your plans, please let us know.

If you are looking for smaller quantities, let us know by email what city you live in and maybe we can point you to a retail nursery in your vicinity carrying the trees. As this website develops further, we plan to provide the retail locations where you can find the trees you are looking for.

The simple answer - RIGHT NOW.

We can book your order anytime up to the day before shipping (or day of shipping if you really want to stress the system). We even encourage booking a year or more in advance - especially for large quantities so we can plant and bud for your requirements. There are pre-bud and pre-plant discounts available for those large contract orders.

Benefits of booking earlier: The earlier you place your order the more likely you will receive the sizes and quantities you want. Growing trees is not the same as manufacturing widgets. There will be a range of sizes grown and certain loss factors inherent in field production. Thus every variety, once harvested, will undergo a process of prorating which means we will adjust every order for each variety to either get the exact quantity and size ordered or the closest to the size and quantity you want. Those orders placed earliest will have less potential adjustments as we start any adjustments with the orders that were entered last.

See the answer to the next question about when we ship.

All the bareroot trees are harvested during the month of December as each variety goes dormant. If weather permits, our goal is to begin deliveries as early as the last week of December but more usually the first week of January. For those in colder areas who need a later delivery,we have cold storage facilities and can delay shipment as late as the third week of March.

The field grown berries and vegetables are harvested in late October to early November. Once harvest is completed, we begin shipping by pool truck and UPS around the 2nd week of November. Of course you do not have to take your shipment right then - they can remain in cold storage for several more months until your climate allows for planting or sales. The Green Globe Artichokes and Rhubarb have a shorter storage life so the sooner they can ship to you the better.

If your weather permits, we encourage fall planting of the berries. Planting in the fall gives the plants a chance to re-establish the roots underground while the top of the plant remains dormant. The fall planted plant gets a faster start on growth in the spring - often gaining half a season of growth compared to a spring planted plant.

The beauty of shipping bareroot trees is we can ship a lot of trees for a relatively low cost. This allows us to cover nearly the entire U.S and much of Canada. This is not the case for growers who ship canned or B&B trees - the added weight greatly limits the number of trees that can go on a truck.

The vast majority of our crops ship on pool trucks where the cost of full truckloads are shared between multiple customers for cost savings over individual shipments. Within California, most shipments are on leased tractor-trailers or bobtail trucks and because of the mild climate and short duration, refrigeration is not needed.

Outside of California most shipments are on pooled trucks that are refrigerated and driven by independent drivers. They are refrigerated because of the longer delivery schedules and often the trucks pass through cold mountain areas or other cold areas as mother nature dictates.

The trees are vertically stacked (actually leaned) so there is no walking on the trees to get to each bundle. This loading method also greatly reduces limb breakage. Moist packing material (currently leached shingletow) is applied to the roots to help retain moisture and the orders are separated by plastic and string.

Yes - if what you ordered can fit into boxes that can be handled by UPS.

It is easy to ship berries, vegetables, grapes and most shrubs by UPS.

Smaller trees often can be shipped as well, but the larger the trees, the more that will need to be pruned off the top to make them fit the largest cartons. Pruning the tops back on fruit and nut trees is usually not a problem and encouraged for the end user anyway. Even low budded flowering trees usually can be pruned without affecting the future shape and value of the tree in the landscape.

Larger or top grafted ornamental and shade trees often provide more difficulty. Cannot take off the top off a top grafted tree. Usually you would not want to take out the central leader in a tree destined for the landscape. Most homeowners would not know how to re-train the central leader and some trees like birch and alders are ruined if topped too low.

Reminder: UPS shipments are not refrigerated. If your climate or any of the UPS route to get the shipment to you goes through freezing weather, you run the risk of loss. We will often delay your shipment if the weather forecast looks harsh between our location and yours. Unfortunately, forecasts over longer time frames across longer distances is not very accurate and where the UPS truck stops at night can make a huge difference.

Absolutely!

The benefits include savings on freight - especially if you have a full truck or are filling a truck by picking up at multiple locations in California. You also have more control over your delivery time if our schedule to your areas does not work well for you.

If you do not have your own truck or a full truck, it may be more cost effective to let your order ride on our pool truck and share the truck's freight costs with many others. You also may need a refrigerated truck if you are transporting across areas of the country where the temperatures get significantly below 32 degrees F for an extended number of hours or the trees have a long transit time - longer than 3-4 days - especially if through warm climate areas.

Our main requirement is 24 hour advance notification so we can pull the order and prepare the paperwork so you are not left waiting once you get here. Giving us a time window for your arrival is most helpful. If you are arriving after noon, we will usually pull the order in the morning so the trees are not out of the sand beds overnight where frost protection may be an issue.

Just like humans, plants can get and host their own form of viruses (harmless to humans). Some viruses do nothing outward to the tree or plant, some cause cosmetic blemishes to foliage and others can cause various issues that could lead to a shorter tree life or less productive fruiting.

Science and technology have found ways to measure whether a tree has certain detrimental viruses. Through tests, a tree can be certified as virus free.

In California, there is a very strict protocol to be used to produce virus certified trees.

1. The source of the budwood must come from a tree whose origins can be traced back to an original tree cleaned up of viruses by the University of California - Davis or Washington State University - Prosser. This is called the Foundation Tree.
2. Budwood / scion wood source trees must be isolated from other blocks of trees that could pose a risk of contamination. The L.E. Cooke Co has a "Foundation Block" made up of the original tested trees in screen houses plus Mother Blocks (1st generation from the Foundation trees) and Registered Blocks which come from the Foundation or Mother Blocks. The majority of the wood for production comes from the Registered Blocks.
3. All source trees in all of the three Blocks are tested every year.

The L.E. Cooke Co has lead the industry in Virus Certification efforts with the widest number of varieties certified and the only non-governmental/non-university screen house for Foundation class trees.

Short answer is No - or at least not at this time. On this highly charged topic, please read the blog posted here: "GMO - Frankenfruit Fears"

L.E. Cooke Co is a wholesale nursery that grows fruit, grape, berry plants, shade and ornamentals for the nursery trade as well as for the commercial trade. Most of our fruit tree varieties are certified virus indexed (CVI) by California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for domestic and international shipments. This is for protection of the commercial orchardists in helping to reduce the likelihood of fruit trees getting a debilitating virus. At present, we are the only California Nursery certified free from Plum Pox.

For Phytosanitary reasons, growing nursery material must be free from (zero tolerance) all pests and diseases that are harmful to plant material. Thus, growing outdoors in a totally pesticide free environment is physically impossible. By making use of a vigorous Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program, we are able to use reduced risk materials occasionally rather than a treat-by-the-calendar approach. Our water system, which is now basically all drip irrigation, also aids in this effort. By eliminating tractor trips through the field for cultivation, we have reduced the dust environment that is favorable to the development if many harmful insect populations, thus reducing the frequency of any treatment that might be needed.

By use of an ongoing scouting program we are able to treat with soft material that leaves many of the beneficial insects in place and not have to treat again because we are ahead of the curve rather than behind it. Added benefits of the drip irrigation are more uniform, better rooted plants for our customers to start with, and reduced PM-10’s (airborne particulates), reduced diesel consumption and reduced VOC emissions. It has also reduced our usage of nitrogen based fertilizers and allowed us to deliver it to the plants in lower amounts per application to avoid any risk of ground water contamination.

Our goal at L.E. Cooke Co is to grow as good a plant as possible for our customers, not only in form but in plant cleanliness so that our customers have an excellent starting point. In the process of doing this, it is also our goal to be good stewards of the environment and attempt to improve it over what we started with where possible. We are a multi-generational company that is looking towards future generations of our families, our workers and that of our customers.

When most (not all) deciduous trees go dormant (drop their leaves in the winter), it is safe to dig them out of the ground and move them since the trees are not using water and nutrients for photosynthesis (create food with leaves).

Planting bareroot trees is what the farmers all around the world do when planting their orchards.

The advantages of bareroot trees are:

• Much less weight for shipping and thus more economical.
• Least expensive way to purchase a tree - do not have the costs of canning.
• Tree roots are planted into native soil without all the planting media (which could encourage the roots to stay within its root ball).
• No circling roots caused by canning.

Disadvantages:

• Trees need the roots to be kept moist (not soaked) and not frozen.
• Limited season of availability - winter dormant season.
• Should be planted relatively quickly.

Do you like climbing ladders to pick your fruit? We don't. All too many fruit trees sold to the homeowners are not properly pruned when planted and the resulting branches are allowed to start much too high and the trees allowed to grow much too tall. When you finally realize the fruit is too high, it is difficult to correct for the future.

On the other hand Farmers learned long ago to top their trees very low and force branching at a lower level. Homeowners are afraid to try doing it (unless they have done it and found success in the past) and retail nursery workers know how to do it but say their customers will not buy a tree with no branches cut back to around knee level.

So we have done it for you and cut the trees back to about knee level in our field and forced branches to grow at a lower level. We did what the farmers do and what the homeowner and nursery are afraid to do. The result is a nicely branched tree ready to plant in your yard.

As the tree grows, your main task is to keep it pruned short to keep the fruit within easy reach. If you do not, it will still grow to a normal tall tree, albeit with branching that started lower.

See the article here: EZ-Pick® Fruit Trees

When we top a tree to make an EZ-Pick tree, our goal is to get 3 to 4 main scaffolds (main branches) balanced around the tree. Mother nature does not always comply and some of the trees do not grow well balanced branching (growing in rows relatively close together does not help). We do not feel the unbalanced tree makes for a good retail product for the inexperienced homeowner. On the other hand, a farmer is likely to top the tree and force new branching where they want anyway. Thus we do NOT recommend a #2 EZ-Pick tree for the retail nursery but encourage them for farmers or others with experience to grow the tree into a well branched tree bearing great fruit.

Several places.

The picture tag or blue strip label on the plant or tree identifies the name of the rootstock.

If you are looking at the catalog, there is a symbol next to the seven digit Variety ID Number (VID). At the bottom of the page is the chart that shows what that symbol means and gives the name of the rootstock. If there is no symbol, it is on its own root.

Additional rootstock information can be found here: (coming soon)

“Heirloom” is a word that is fiercely debated and could mean different things to different people. Just look the word up on Wikipedia for a fuller discussion of the debate.

For us, “Heirloom” in fruit trees and other edible plants means it has proven itself over a very long time. In spite of modern breeder’s best efforts, there are many old time edible fruits that have proven to be great tasting and remain popular because they are so beloved through generations of home gardeners.

We picked 1933 as the cutoff for our selections. Any variety found, discovered or bred before that year is included in our list.

Why 1933? Some people use end of WWII (1945) roughly as the beginning of widespread modern hybridization. Others have chosen 1951 for the same purpose. When we started this project, 1933 was over 70 years before – enough time for 3+ generations to put their stamp of approval on the varieties. It may seem arbitrary but that is the year we have used as our benchmark.

Some will argue that heirloom should not be a hybrid but a seedling found naturally in nature. We have not chosen that definition since everything is a cross of some sort whether through chance or planned by man. Based upon our arbitrary date, you can be assured that nothing is genetically modified since I don’t think DNA genetics became hot topics until the 1940’s and 1950’s.

Thus, using the Wikipedia discussion, our Heirlooms “could be classified as ‘commercial heirlooms’, cultivars that were introduced many generations ago and were of such merit that they have been saved, maintained and handed down….”

Bottom line – they are exceptional and worthy of planting and eating. It fits our corporate goal of providing the best tasting fruit for the home gardener and the commercial growers that want the best flavor for their customers. {/slide}

Yes and No

We offer multiple varieties on a single tree for Apples, Cherries and Pears. There are four different Apple Combinations each with a Red, Green, Yellow and Striped variety. The four combinations are selected to meet the climatic needs of a Desert area, Mild Climate area, Moderate climate area and Cold climate area. In a similar way Pear Combinations were created for a Mild Climate area, Moderate Climate area, Cool Climate area and the most popular, an Asian Pear Combination. We don't have as much climate leeway for cherries so we put together the all time favorite sweet cherries on the same tree.

What about Peaches, Plums, Nectarines and Apricots? We are constantly asked to grow combinations or even "Cocktail" trees with these combinations. We have done many tests and have chosen Not to grow them. Why? We, and then our retail customers, are doing a disservice to the homeowner buying that tree. Every combination we have observed creates dominant varieties and slower growing varieties. Within a few short years your customer will have at best one or two varieties remaining on the tree. Even experienced nursery people have a hard time pruning the trees to keep the varieties anywhere in balance. We even experience a little of this on the Apples and Pears. To help a little, we put the slowest growing bud on the top where it pushes first and the fastest growing variety lowest on the tree where it is slower to push. We also grow the tree so the slowest variety faces west with the most sun and the fastest facing north. Of course the homeowner is unlikely to plant it the same way.

Instead we highly recommend planting the 3 or 4 trees in the space of one tree. This is highly effective with each tree growing independently but only taking up the space of one tree. See details of this idea here: Planting Multiple Trees in the Space of One.

Simply for safety - of our workers, our customers and their customers. Most Jujube varieties have swords as thorns. You won't find the kids climbing these trees! In fact when we prune the Jujube, we haul the branches out of the field instead of running a tractor and shredder/mulcher over the branches. The thorns puncture tractor tires - the big tires!

Not to worry - the Jujube trees grow so fast the thorns, I mean branches, will be back in no time. The trees we ship to you grew from a bud in February to a full sized tree with fruit by September/October. They are Fast!

But it is all worth our extra labor. The fruit is delightful and in high demand.

LH is "Low Head". HH is "High Head". LB is "Low Bud". TG is "Top Graft"

Some of the ornamental trees can have different appearances depending upon the landscape application. For example, the vast majority of Krauter Vesuvius (which by the way we introduced to the trade) are sold as Low Head for the home landscape. But they are also frequently used to line pedestrian sidewalks where keeping the limbs higher up is preferred.

Weeping Cherries are famous for their Top Grafted look in the formal landscape design. Yet many of us have found we prefer the stunning appearance of the Low Bud Weeping Cherry where the branches are continually weeping up the trunk. This also has the added benefit in hot climates of shading the trunk so we do not have to whitewash the trunk for sunburn.

Some young trees with thin bark will sunburn if exposed to the hot afternoon sun - usually on the west side. In most cases as a tree matures and the bark thickens, the risk of sunburn diminishes. Also, the leaves of a mature tree usually shade the trunk of the tree during the hotest, brightest part of the day.

In the farming communities with tree fruit, you will often see a vase shaped pruning where the trees have been opened up to allow sunlight to penetrate to the fruit for ripening purposes and you will see white paint on the bark which faces skyward. This is to avoid sunburn where the tree would normally have leaves to shade it.

We paint with a 50% white latex/water mix which puts on a light coat of paint which will wear off in a few seasons. Only a few trees are painted - mostly the top grafted weeping cherries and the top grafted Weeping Pussy Willows. Once the branches fill in and are not too heavily pruned, the leaves will shade the trunks in the future. The low budded flowering cherries do not need the protection since their branches provide the protection for it.

Why is sunburn a problem? Sunburn will harden the bark and as the tree grows and expands, the bark will not grow with it and crack which allows insects and diseases into the tree. Not too unlike your skin getting a burn and cracking (peeling).

We used to but then it did not make much sense to be competing with our very own wholesale customers who can our trees.

We do offer some small fruits and tree liners in smaller propagation pots for retail sales or transplanting by wholesalers.

The frequently used 11 USDA Zones are for how cold it gets in a climate. Basically it says that a tree suitable for a zone should not die from freeze in that zone in a normal range of years.

What is does not tell you is whether the tree will perform well in that zone. For example a peach tree in USDA Zone 8 might flourish in hot, dry Central California but fruit very poorly, if at all, in South Carolina with the summer rains and humidity.

Sunset Magazine created a much broader range of zones that attempts to address the broader scope of the micro climates which affect the year round performance of a plant or tree. This marvelous undertaking created 45 zones across the country. A complete detail of what the Sunset Zones cover can be read here: Sunset Climate Zones Description

Our desire is to put a Sunset Zone on every product we sell since it will give a better indication of how a tree will perform in a given climate. This is a multi year project which is just being started so be patient with us. Researching 1,200 items over 45 climate zones is quite a task. Some zones are easy while others take more research.

This question often comes up when reading descriptions of strawberries. One of the best explanations can be found here from Oregon State:

What are short day and long day plants?

We ship to many climates all across the U.S. and Canada. When we dig our trees they are processed, graded, tied, labeled and heeled variety by variety into sand beds. When everything is dug, we begin shipping - assembling all the different varieties for each order.

Approximately 2/3 of our crop ships within the first 3 weeks of the shipping season in January. These come quickly and efficiently from the sand beds. The balance is shipped later - as late as the third week of March.

For trees to remain dormant, they need to be kept cold. But in our climate, it warms up by late January. So we put all the orders for February and March into a high tech, climate controlled and monitored rented cold storage facility. They are pulled order by order, checked, then loaded and transported to the cold storage facility where they are put away - again order by order. When it comes time to ship those orders, they are again pulled and checked again before loading onto the trucks. Thus we have the added expense to pull the order twice, load it twice and put it away in between. This is in addition to the expensive lease of this facility by the months.

But others do not charge a cold storage fee? You are correct, growers in colder locations put the majority of their trees into cold storage and the cost is built into every tree. In most cases, our incredibly great growing climate and the ability to not have the cost of cold storage for everything means our prices are usually less than those of growers in colder climates. Even with the addition of 4 to 6 percent for cold storage, our prices are very competitive.

This is an open, public forum. Our pricing is for the Retail and Wholesale nurseries that purchase from us. They are the ones that sell direct to the public and it is their prices that the public needs to see, not ours. Nursery and qualified farming customers of ours can see the catalog pricing by contacting us to be put on the mailing list and / or have a copy emailed to them.

Wilt-Pruf® is an anti-desiccant. We dip or spray Wilt-Pruf® on a number of varieties of trees where the tree has a history or runs a risk of dessication.

Certain varieties such as Birch, Albizia, Hackberry, Redbuds and others have Wilt-Pruf® coatings to help the tree retain moisture and avoid dehydration until the roots are established to replenish its moisture. Our catalog shows which varieties we apply Wilt-Pruf® to. In addition, for only a 1% added cost, we can Wilt-Pruf® dip a customer's entire order. This is often done at the request of customers in hot, dry desert areas such as Phoenix, or cold, low humidity and windy areas like New Mexico or the panhandle of Texas.

Wilt-Pruf® is a natural pine oil emulsion that is NON-HAZARDOUS, ORGANIC, AND BIODEGRADABLE. It is not damaged by freezing during storage, it has an indefinite shelf life, and is non-toxic to eyes and skin. Wilt-Pruf® spray dries to form a clear transparent and flexible protective coating without interfering with plant growth or materially affecting respiration, osmosis, or photosynthesis. More information can be found on the Wilt-Pruf® website or Information Page

We charge an additional cost per tree to split bundles into smaller bundles. Typically trees are tied in bundles of 10 for 1/2" caliper and below. We frequently see requests to split these bundles of 10 into a bundle of 5.

Right now we charge 60 cents per tree for splitting a bundle - which nets $3.00 for 5 trees. At a cost of approximately $13.00 an hour per worker, this provides for 11-12 minutes to accomplish this task. The bundle of 10 trees is taken to a splitting crew which cuts the original tying straps (wasted cost), splits the 10 into two bundles of 5 and the re-ties the two new bundles with strapping (more cost). Both bundles need to have variety and size labels attached. Then one bundle is taken to the order pallet and the other bundle is returned to the storage sand bed and re-buried with a shovel. Walking distance to the beds could be 250 to 750 feet and back. We do not charge enough to cover the time and materials.

The Central Valley of California is possibly the greatest agricultural growing area in the world. The great sandy loam soils, winter chill and long growing season are but three of the many reasons for the great diversity in agriculture we see all around us.

Trees grow very well here - fast and tall. In other growing regions of the country with shorter seasons and cooler climates trees grow slower and shorter. Caliper is also usually a better indicator of the root mass for planning can sizes, planning staking and visualizing the stoutness of a tree. Our 3/4" caliper tree will be taller than a grower's 3/4" tree from cooler areas. We usually meet or exceed customer expectations with this additional height and growth. Conversely, if we sold the tree by height, our 6 foot tree would have a smaller caliper than a 6 foot tree from other growers and we would disappoint on the caliper. With our incredible growing location and selling by caliper, we are able to grow taller trees for the same caliper for less cost than growers with cooler, shorter seasons. This is why California growers have always standardized on caliper for grading trees. Of course shrubs and multi-stem trees are graded by height.

The L.E. Cooke Co is a wholesale grower that sells to retail nurseries, wholesale nurseries and commercial farmers. We do not sell to individuals unless they are buying large enough for commercial farming.

Minimum order is $1,200 for a farmer with multiples of 10 of a variety. If this fits into your plans, please let us know.

If you are looking for smaller quantities, let us know by email what city you live in and maybe we can point you to a retail nursery in your vicinity carrying the trees. As this website develops further, we plan to provide the retail locations where you can find the trees you are looking for.{/slide}

Many independent retail nurseries around the country sell our trees.

If your local nursery does not have the tree you are looking for, drop us an email with your city & state and we will try to respond with the closest nurseries to you with that product or mail order nurseries that might carry it. Be a little patient for a response. Sometimes there are only a few of us in the office when the sales staff is on the road selling and we may not have the time to instantly do the research for you.

As this website develops further we plan to provide a tool for you to look up your closest nurseries which bought a tree from us. {/slide}

Growing trees is not the same as manufacturing widgets. There will be a range of sizes grown and certain loss factors inherent in field production. We have statistics from years of growing that tell us, in approximate numbers, how the sizes will be spread across a given number of trees grown. Of course these estimates are affected by weather, the strength of the field it is planted in and other issues within or outside of human control. We use these estimates to fill orders until the fall caliper counts can give us real size numbers to work with. We prorate new orders at order entry, filling sizes as available at that instant in time. In the fall, after the caliper field counts, we prorate all items and mail a complete re-run of everyone's order the first week of December so they know what to expect will be shipping in a few weeks.

Every variety, once harvested, will undergo a final process of prorating. Why? Aren't the fall counts any good? Because final counts usually vary a little from the fall field count. With the fall count, we allow a loss factor for hidden problems with roots, digger or handling damage and grading of quality. Sometimes we come up with more trees available to sell and sometimes we come up with a little less. This means we will adjust every order for each variety again to either get the exact quantity and size ordered or the closest to the size and quantity you want. As new orders and cancellations continue to come into the office, we will continue to prorate and fill orders until the day of shipment. Please be aware of this so that if you buy an item from another source that we could not fill, let us know or we may fill it at the last minute and you get more than you need.

We try to treat everyone fairly - no favoritism. If we have to adjust a size or a quantity, we start with the orders entered last. Those orders placed earliest will have less potential adjustment.

If we come up with extra quantities, we will fill the customer's "Wants" who ordered first.

If we have to trim a small quantity, we start with the last orders entered. For example, if we need to trim 20 to 30 trees, we will reduce 5 to 10 trees per order until the variety is in balance. If we have a larger number, lets say 10% shortage in a variety, we will try to take 10% off every order - to the nearest whole bundle instead of wiping out all the variety off the orders that entered last.

When we adjust sizes, we do it in a similar manner. If we have to move away from the preferred sizes, we start with the last orders entered. Before we move anyone more than one size, we will move everyone one size and then go back to the last orders entered to make the second size move.

If we can move a customer back closer to their preferred size, we will start with the first orders placed and work down to the last orders placed.

Benefits of booking earlier: As you can see, the earlier you place your order the more likely you will receive the sizes and quantities you want.

Due to the nature of growing nursery stock, we request from our customers the flexibility to move one size up or down. That 1/4" or 1/8" caliper difference usually is not significant for the end purposes. If we move up a size, we do not charge more for that size as others in the industry do. Of course if we move the size down, the lower price will apply.

Dormant trees (without leaves) do not use water for photosynthesis. All the tree needs is for the roots to not dry out.

When planting a bareroot tree, the tiny, delicate feeder roots need to re-develop to provide future nutrition and water. When the ground or canning mix is too wet, it slows or prevents the new root development. Most people do not realize that the roots need oxygen too - which is why you find most feeder roots near the surface of the ground. Too saturated and the roots starve for oxygen.

This is why we recommend soaking in the tree when first planted and if necessary a little more later to get rid of settlement air pockets. After that, the can or hole in the ground usually stays plenty moist for the roots without further watering. If the top 2 inches of soil dry out, that is usually not a problem. In a normal planting, you resume watering once the leaves begin to show because now the tree begins to use the water in transpiration.

Honestly, we would prefer that you did not prune the roots. Only prune broken roots if necessary.

The main structural roots store the food necessary to start new feeder roots and afterwards it feeds the new top growth. Until the leaves and new roots develop to produce new food, the tree survives on what is stored in the roots. Since the harvest process has removed so much root already, please give the tree a chance to survive its trauma by leaving as much stored food as possible.{/slide}

This is a work in process.

We want our customers to have the tools necessary to be successful selling our trees.

Today there are 3 ways to get photos and variety information:

1. There are 8 1/2" x 11 Information Sheets for many products that you can download. Many more are in work as time permits so call/email if you need one that is not already posted on the website. These were designed to be printed for your Point of Sale (POS) near the trees you have on display.
2. You can email your Territory Sales Manager and he or she can email photos to you if they are available.
3. The photographer is posting the photos (and has thousands more to post) on his photography website which can be downloaded for a very nominal fee. That website is: www.CreatorsPalette.com under the Ag/Horticulture tab.

Future Plans: When we get the interactive descriptive database running on this website, the photo associated with the description will be able to be downloaded for our customers to use. That is tied to our total overhaul of our internal business system (no small task) to feed the website with the data and is a year or more away.

Yes - if you do not want the free down loadable pdf file.

A copy of the Edible Fruit Guide is available free in Acrobat PDF format from our website, here. It is designed to be used in a shirt or hip pocket so trimming of your wider paper would be needed if you want the same size.

If you want a commercially printed booklet and your local nursery does not have any for sale, please send us $3.00 and your mailing address and a copy will be mailed to you.

Thank you for asking. We invented and manufacture the Miracle Garden Tie and sell primarily through distributors all across the country. They in turn sell to the local retail outlets in your neighborhoods. We would be happy to point you to one or more distributors if you send us an email with the city and state you are located in.

We will reply with some distributors closest to you or retail sources if you are a homeowner with smaller purchases.