Advise for where to buy good berry plants! Please help!

Hello;

I am an avid gardener and I have been for many years (well, I'm in college now and I've been gardening/farming since my parents gave me 2 acres of our farm as my own to grow veggies on when I was 10 years old!) Anyway, I would like to expand my hobby and grow some blueberries and raspberries and even try some cranberries (The kind that don't have to be grown in a bog). I live in TN and have a very good 1/2 acre picked out on our property for this purpose. Now, all I need is a good source for the plants. Does anyone have any recommendations for a company that I can trust to purchase from? I have catalogs from Gurney's, Henry Fields, and quite a few other similar seed and nursery companies. But, I have heard some horror stories about those companies. We don't have any local nurseries around here that sell this type of thing so the only option I have is to order from a company. I would appreciate any advise or recommendations! Thank you so very much!

My advice would be to check out One Green World and Raintree Garden Nursery. I deal with both of these companies for small fruits, and they generally do well. Some here will recommend Raintree over OGW, but personally I have had better results with OGW. Don't limit yourself to the varieties you mentioned. Try some gooseberries, seaberries, honeyberries and serviceberries. While these mail order companies are more expensive than some of the others out there, you will find that you get larger plants that get into production years earlier than from others. Keep in mind as well that they will be shipping you bare root dormant plants, so you will need to order and receive them in the spring. They typically stop shipping or sell out by May. Both companies have a wonderful selection of edibles that are worth exploring.

I order my blueberries from Hartmanns and other berries from Nourse. They are specialists in their respective crops and are the best quality I have found. OGW and Raintree are also very good places but the berry quality is not as consistently high as the former two based on my experience.

Scott

Scott, both Hartman's and Nourse do have good reputations, but I think their catalogs take some liberties with names, so that makes me a bit cautious with them. The plants that I have purchased from Hartman's have all been relatively small and most have not survived. Hartman's warranty is very restrictive as well and they can be slow responding to communications. I have also been shipped different varieties than advertised (and ordered without subs) and had to work to get the problems straightened out due to the weak communications. I get annoyed when looking at Nourse's catalog. For example, they sell a "Sandra" berry without telling people what the true ID of the plant (yes, I know what it is). Another catalog issue/example is the Reka blueberry, patented, and for sale, but they neglect to state berry size, so you have to research or ask them - they do state the berry size for their others. They also sell Tixia gooseberry, one that has been very disappointing for me when compared to other cultivars. (I've never had a sweet berry from my plant - large pretty fruit, but sour - why not say so?)

I'm glad that you have had good results with these vendors but they remain second sources for me. Always good to see your posts. I have learned from you.

How I would shake this out would be based on my goals. If I just wanted to do some trials or small quantities, then I would go with OGW or Raintree because of the larger plants (than Harman's). If I was going fr a large number of plants, then it might be a better deal to go with Hartman's or Nourse.

Or go by varieties. Raintree has an unsurpassed collection of trailing blackberries so I just ordered my new guys for next year from them. I got all of my new raspberries from Nourse. I like Hartmanns because they sell the best southern highbush blueberry varieties, e.g. ONeal and Ozarkblue, which are hard to find.

Scott

krowten and scottfsmith;

Thanks for the advise and input! I checked out these companies websites and saw things of interest from them all. I was originally going to order some plants from Gurney's and from Henry Fields because they do offer a $25 rebate coupon. But then, after reading quite a few horror stories about them, I began to have my doubts. I have purchased vegetable seeds from them before and never had a problem. But the only live plants I have tried were some blueberries from our local Lowe's store. (All of them were of very poor quality and only 2 out of the original 12 survived.) I didn't want that to happen this time around so I am hoping to order my plants from a reputable company that will send me good quality plants. I will probably order from a couple different companies, just to keep a variety.

The only thing I wasn't satisfied with was the cranberries. I didn't really see any listing from any of these companies that I liked. In the Henry Field's Catalog, they have a different cranberry than these companies sell. (Or so it seems) Does anyone know about cranberry plants and the best place to find them (I am looking for the kind that are highly adaptable and can be grown without a bog.)

Thanks so much for your help and advise

Seeds, I think you do well by avoiding Gurney's and Fields - I have a personal negative experience with...

Truly, blueberries are really hardy, easy plants, but you must make sure they have the right pH. If your pH is not right, then they are easy to lose.

Regarding cranberries, I might suggest you check out lingonberries - a relative of both the blueberry and the cranberry (distantly). However, I have become quite a fan of lingonberries and wish I had discovered them a long time ago. Hartman's has a lot of different varieties of lingonberries, but they only advertise a few. Talk to them if you want a particular kind - they may have them.

Scott raises an important point. We grow in different climates, so look for different things. He has a lot more space then I.

Seeds, no cranberry needs a bog. Bogs are used commercially because they can be flooded for frost protection and because they harvest by flooding and floating the berries out. Also the soil is more acidic and organic which cranberries like; just add a bale of peat moss to your location and you have something just as good as far as the plants are concerned.

I tried to grow them and killed a whole lot of plants before I gave up. They don't like the heat at all. I have heard of some other people having success in my area so there may be something about my location (south-facing hill, extra hot) that does them in. They would grow well in the cooler months and then stop growing in the heat.

There are variety differences but any vaccinium macrocarpon will be good; I am positive there is nothing better about the kind Henry Fields is selling (and if anything it will be the other way around). The highbush cranberry is a different plant, don't get that.

Scott

Okay, guys and gals. I yielded to temptation and bought two each blueberries and raspberries at Lowe's last weekend. I'm planning to put them in pots with potting soil until temps warm up enough to plant them out. Will this do the job or is there another way? They're wrapped in paper and plastic with a little soil around them now. Looking green and healthy and I have been storing them outside.

Hemo, I grow my blueberries (at least most of them) in large pots. Just make sure the pH is right for them. (50% potting soil - 50% peat should be in the right neighborhood) Raspberries need to be in the ground, as the plant lifecycle requires that new plants be generated each year. Simplifying, this years canes will die next year, so the plant needs to send up new canes every year. I think both will survive outside OK in pots, if given minimal care.

Good luck. I love my blueberries!

I got a lot of Ribes ( Gooseberries, red currants, black currants and yellow currants) from Forestfarm and some from Whitman farms and some from rolling River Nursery. I was really happy with all of them.
Christie

Krowten: Thanks for the tips. I have blueberries planted in the ground in Asheville, but just had to have some here, too!

Angie

My 2 cents worth is.
I have NEVER gotten blackberry, raspberry or strawberry plants anywhere that started to compare with the quality of Nourse's. And I've ordered from at least half a dozen other nurserys. I echo Krowten. Stay away from Gurneys and Henry Fields even if they offer $50 off of an order.
The black and purple raspberrys I got from Nourse last spring have canes as large as my 5 yr. old established plants. I will get a full crop off them this spring. Never had that happen before.
RED

Nourse quality is jaw-droppingly good, and their prices are reasonable. (I think they're the people I tried to phone-order from once and they didn't want to sell me any blackberries or raspberries until I'd eradicated the wild blackberries from most of my land.) I ordered a few some years later and they arrived in superb condition, with root systems nothing short of amazing.

There used to be three or four berry growers in a small area of Arkansas, all relatives by blood or marriage, who had similar offerings and small and simple on-line sites that offered berry plants at very good prices. I haven't checked recently to see how many are still in business, but at least some people have been happy with their plants.

I echo the positive comments on Nourse Farms. I have purchased many plants from blueberries to raspberries to strawberries, all with excellent quality and the customer service to back it up. Once they sent me a raspberry they had a concern over, ended up sending replacement plants...just in case these weren't healthy (which they were).

Good luck with whatever you decide. But just keep in mind, most often you get what you pay for. Buying large healthy plants from a vendor who takes quality seriously will have you in fruit much, much sooner.

Hi, I am new to strawberries but would love to grow a good northern everbearer. Do you have any recommendations as to variety and soil ammendments/mulches. Thanks so much.

I like Tribute and straw mulch.

Are tribute a good sized berry?

For an everbearer.

Junebearers can grow larger.

Anyone ever deal with HEARTLAND BLUEBERRIES? I can't remember where I saw them recommended, but I think they are a small operation. Didn't see them in Garden watchdog.

Never dealt with them but would not buy any berry plant from anyone but Nourse. This statement comes with lots of experience with many other nurserys.

I saw a website for Bluegrass Blueberries whose offers looked pretty good. I do not have any personal experience with them though. If I lived near them, I would give them a try.I decided to get berries that were grown in my same region. Fall Creek, in Oregon, sells good berries. They are wholesale, but I found their bushes at a local garden center.

Just a thought here, but a local nursery always puts their small fruits on sale in late summer/early fall. If I am not in a rush for something, I will often be able to pick up nice plants for half price. It might be helpful to see if any of the local nurseries does something similar in your area.

Do you mind telling me the name of the nursery? My son lives in Pittsburgh & maybe he could check there this fall for me.

Gooley said,
"Nourse quality is jaw-droppingly good, and their prices are reasonable. (I think they're the people I tried to phone-order from once and they didn't want to sell me any blackberries or raspberries until I'd eradicated the wild blackberries from most of my land.)"

I wanted to know what the wild blackberries would do to the cultivars. I am going to have 8 blackberry cultivars planted by (real) Spring and there are wild ones all around. I figured they would just add to the harvest if I pruned them and fertilized them a little.

I'm not sure what I will do differently, but I would really like to know why I shouldn't have wild and cultivar blackberries near each other.

Thank you all.
Paul

(my dog Pepper loves to pick and eat blackberries)

Laurel Valley Nursery in Latrobe. If you dmail me before he makes the trip, I'll check for you to see what they have and if it is on sale.

pbyrley
I'm not sure about blackberries but wild raspberries carry a virus which is devastating to tame raspberries. I suspect that wild blackberries might have the same characteristics. But I have tame blackberries growing very near wild ones at the present but they are only a couple years old.
RED

Thanks Red, That sounds like the answer. I don't do raspberries so no problem there.
I think I should take a chance as I've seen no problem with the wild blackberries and if the tame ones die, I can plant blueberries.
Paul

where is the best place to get a great selection of grapes and muscadines??

While mail order catalogs are great - my mailbox is nearly toppling over with them every year - you might want to consider a more "local" source with plants adapted to your climate zone.

You might try:

Vernon Barnes & Son Nursery
273 Kesey Ford Rd
Mc Minnville, TN
P: 931-668-8576

http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/1746/

Savagegardner
I just ordered some Muscadines from Willis Orchards http://www.willisorchards.com/index I have no past experience with them and have not rec'd the plants yet but they do have a nice selection
RED

Willis is not getting super good reviews in Garden Watchdog. Vernon Barnes would be a good place. I got my muscadines from Isons in Georgia and Just Fruits and Exotics in FL; both good suppliers.

Scott

thanks for the tips

Well, Walmart had 3 different varieties of beautiful blueberry bushes today so I figured for $10, I couldn't really go wrong. And they are very good about refunding if plants don't make it, as long as you have your receipt, for up to a year. I still want to eventually get some of the "extra large" blueberries, but this will at least get me started. I got 1 each of Elliot, Brigatta, & Blucrop.