Comments regarding Stark Brothers Nurseries & Orchards Company

I was told I'd be crazy to grow all my fruit trees in wine casks but hey, my trees are 'crazy-growing' in wine casks! Who can resist the name "Dwarf Giant Nectarine?" This poor little tree. Right away I had to pinch off around 200 infant fruit, namely the twins and triplets. Then at golf ball size I pinched off opposites leaving only alternates. It even has a little 3" side stem that put out 5 fruit! My local nurseryperson said I'd better take off all but five. Nope, I left around 40 and it became the weeping nectarine tree. This all happened in it's very first year. Unbelievable! The cherry and pear are growing fast without blossoms this year but are both healthy and well leafed…

This is the best company by far that does fruit trees and trees. I thank you for your help these many years I've done business with Stark Brothers.

I ordered a Stark Orchard in 1976. All my trees have done great. My peach trees lasted about 15 years until the bores got them. I have 4 pecans in my yard that are doing great after 26 years they make some of the best pecans. I hate to see such a good company go out of business.

I had read many great and good comments about Stark Brothers. I ordered several trees last fall. The trees never arrived, so I called the company and was told that the trees should have been shipped but apparently there was a slip up somewhere. So they offered to send them as soon as possible in the spring. We live in southern Kansas (zone 6) and when it got to be May and still no trees I called Stark Brothers customer service and was told that the order had been cancelled. I would not recommend them for their service because they have none! All in all it is not a very good way to run a business.

I have ordered from Stark Brothers several times and overall am quite impressed with both service and quality. I especially am comfortable with the packaging since no plants have arrived in poor condition; they are quite durably packaged!

I have been ordering from Stark Brothers since 1993. That year, I ordered a Bradford Pear tree. That particular tree is now about 20-25 feet high and made an incredible display this spring.In 1995, I ordered some fruit trees… In 1998, I bought some other trees. I bought a white fleshed peach, a nectarine, and an apricot. These 3 trees have not been treated too well, because 2 years ago, they all had to be transplanted at a bad time. Two of them have recovered extremely well and are covered with fruit as they were last year. The sweetheart is a dwarf and it now finally starting to perk up a little. In 1999, I bought a stark cherry tree. I'm thinking that by next year, that one should be pretty good.Regarding the customer service, it's perfect. They will replace anything that is no good, and that included a sourwood tree I'd bought in the 90's. I also had bought a hardy kiwi that died in the first year. They replaced it; the 2nd one died and they replaced THAT. Not with one, but TWO for good measure. One of the 3rd ones is in my backyard, growing like a weed and bearing too many fruits for the humans, but not nearly enough, it seems, for the birds and raccoons.

I also ordered from Stark and had excellent luck with them.

Being in the military, we have moved a lot. Everywhere we lived, we plant trees. Our house in Virginia has apples trees, a plum tree, an oriental pear, and others, all from Stark. That was over 20 years ago and they are still doing great. Our place in Northwest Alabama has apples, peaches, oriental pear, and pecans.The Stark pecan trees, now 16 years old, are beautiful (I often wish we still lived there).In Indiana, our house has apples, hardy kiwi, asparagus, a pluot, and an oriental pear, all from Stark. When we sold that house, the buyers insisted on a condition of sale that all those trees stay. Next was northwest Alabama and we sold that house with several Stark fruit trees in the yard-they still look great. Now we are on the Alabama Gulf coast and have planted a pluot and an oriental pear from Stark. This is the second year for the oriental pear and it has fruit on it. I really can't say enough good about Stark. One tree we bought from Stark while in Indiana died; they promptly replaced it.

I ordered a collection of fruit trees from Stark's this year. Here are my impressions:1. I don't think the "Stark Supreme" trees are worth it. My largest and my smallest tree were "Supreme" trees. Both are doing fine. Thebest "Supreme" tree was a Goldrush apple tree. This may be a reflection of Stark's doing apple trees better than anyone else, rather than aparticularly premium specimen. 2. The "rpm" bottomless pot two in one cherry tree has done really well. I definitely think I would go out of my way to order an "rpm" tree again--a real innovation. Their literature hasn't kept up with the new product, though. Should we drench the pot in Superthrive, or juststick the tree in the hole, or what? 3. They had some sort of shipping problem this year, and my order arrived about two weeks late. I don't know if it was a weather delay, or what. Anyway, one of two Rhubarb corms arrived looking kind of desiccated, like it had been sitting unprotected in a dry, cold warehouse for a couple of weeks. One thing about Stark's though, is that their plants are really dormant. I think they keep their warehouse good and cold. Overall, I highly recommend them. Their catalog could use less cornball ad copy, e.g. "good eatin' from your own tree!" and more usefulinformation about the rootstock and cultivars, for example, their "Sweethheart" Apricot was discovered in Northwest Colorado and bloomslater than their Wilson Apricot. This is really useful information to us out West, but they don't even mention it.

We have been most pleased with the quality and service from Stark Brothers for many years. I highly recommend them to family and friends. Customer service has been very helpful for us when we have needed replacements. I hope those who did not have a good experience will try this company again. Sometimes a sour employee can give a good company a bad reputation.

I've ordered several trees from Stark, building up a small home orchard. After ordering 12 fruit trees the first Spring, THEY called ME around mid-Summer just to ask how my trees were doing and ask if I had any questions. How's that for customer service? When one of my apple trees faded early in the fall and failed to leaf out in the Spring, they readily replaced it when I contacted them by e-mail. The rest of the trees have done well, and I just ordered more by internet today.

Stark really does deliver on its promise of quality plants. We ordered a semi-dwarf apple tree and a white dogwood from Stark three years ago. Both trees arrived in great condition, the apple started to bear last year, and the dogwood has bloomed each year since we planted it.

This is also the fourth year I have purchased items from Stark - all with successful results.

We purchased 9 dwarf/semi-dwarf fruit trees last Fall from Stark Brothers. We live close enough to drive there, so before ordering, we took a drive up to the actual nursery. It was a great experience and the staff member was a tremendous help. We purchased the items they had available that day from the nursery, and they shipped the remainder of our order (8 trees and some berries) without any shipping charge to us. The trees arrived in good form and healthy, pruned and ready to plant. All 9 trees survived last winter and, with the exception of the semi-dwarf cherry, are growing vigorously. The cherry leafed out beautifully, but then curled up and died? We are on our way today to Louisiana, MO to get a replacement tree and some other items. We would highly recommend buying from Stark Brothers.

I do have a good experience to relate for anyone looking for quality fruit trees. I have ordered from Stark Bros. twice now, for a total of 13 trees and am VERY impressed with their quality, knowledge and excellent customer service personnel. I've even e-mailed them with questions and gotten very quick, courteous answers. And to show just how strong a reputation they have: I recently visited a local nursery, which is very well established in our area, with a question about planting fruit trees and was very surprised to see them pull out Stark Bros. catalogs and other information to look up the answer for me. If that's not a glowing recommendation I don't know what is!

I just wanted to say that I had ordered a 3 in 1 butterfly bush back in May of 1999. I had not received my order and I had no way to find out an address or phone number to call them since it was on the order blank and I didn't keep the info. In February of 2000 I found this feedback sight on the internet and Someone listed a phone number for Stark Brothers. They had sent the order to the wrong address and so they sent another bush and it arrived in great shape March 11, 2000.

We have been ordering large amounts of seed, perennials, fruit and shrubs for the farm over the past decade. For fruit, we highly recommend Stark's (and others.)

I have been shopping for apple trees and checked-out the Stark Brothers website. I was impressed. I sent an e-mail inquiring about apple trees for southeastern Wisconsin and promptly received a concise and helpful reply - the representative explained to me that it was too late (early November) to plant apple trees in my location. I had been to local nurseries and received no such advice. How often does a company risk losing a customer by telling them not to buy now. it's never happened to me before. I'm going to order some apple trees for Spring, 2000 and look forward to reaping bountiful harvests based on the majority of other satisfied FAQ's who have patronized Stark's. Their catalog is first rate - informative, easy to read and quite beautiful.

I have been ordering from Stark since the '60s and have always gotten excellent, robust trees and good info.

I grew up with Stark Brothers trees in our orchard, and when I started a home and garden I ordered Stark Brothers trees. They are great to work with and really give you the information you need.

Over 40 years ago, I ordered trees from Starks and they are still growing. Just ordered some fruit trees and know they will be fine. Love the idea to call and capable people can answer your questions. Prices are fair for the quality you get.

Stark Bros. Nursery is by far the best place I have found for mail-order nursery stock. Their fruit trees are as advertised, and are strong specimens. They are packed appropriately and are healthy upon arrival. They live up to their guarantee should the stock not live up to expectations. What more could one want from a mail-order nursery.

Have ordered twice from them. First fruit trees planted spring 1997 and doing well. Will see how they do in 98. Fall 1998 delivery not yet arrived. More expensive than some but probably worth extra cost. Stock appears good, selection great.

I have two mail order nurseries that I have used in the past and they have provided excellent service. I say this because you will almost always have some plants that will not grow. Each of these two nurseries have replaced them with out question. They are Stark Bros Nursery and Springhill Nursery.

I have ordered Fruit trees from them for the past five years. All the trees but one have been really excellent quality, took off and did wonderfully. The one tree seemed suspiciously like it had fireblight, which as surprising, as they advertised it as resistant strain of Bartlett. I dug out their number, since it had been months since planting. They said to dig it up and take it out to the trash immediately; they did not hassle over the refund, offering me more merchandise or refund. I elected a refund, I had the check within 5 days! They had developed a trusting customer, and I look to do business with them again this winter.

We have ordered 3 apple trees, 3 grape vines, 1 peach tree 125 strawberry plants and they have all thrived. Directions on how to plant and packing of trees and other plants was incredible! We will order from them again. My grandfather had used Stark for his 85 years farming hundreds of acres.

My husband and I order a lot of edible landscaping plants, seeds, and bulbs from catalogs. We had really bad luck with Stark Bros for fruits, (they all died two years in a row.)

I recently ordered an apple, a peach, and two pear trees from Stark Brothers. It helps that they've developed many of their own hybrids.It allows for a great selection. Their customer service reps are very knowledgeable and courteous. They were able to provide me with enough information to help me decide what types of trees would do best in my region. One rep even suggested I not buy two apple trees and give an older apple tree (bought elsewhere) that is not doing well on my property another try. She sent me info on how to promote fruit-production, etc. The trees I received were well-packaged, of very good stock, and arrived just in time. Stark's planting guide is excellent too. It provides detailed information on planting just about any fruit-bearing plant/tree there is, including PH, soil additives, and pollination. I'm keeping it for reference. Their prices are good compared to the quality. It's worth it, considering the investment. I would rather not have saved 2 or 3 dollars now for inferior growth and fruit production later. I'll have to write back ina year or two and give you an update. But for now, I am happily impressed with them.

I wish I could comment upon their service and quality of product. Virtually everything I wanted to order could not be shipped to California. I know that California has strict agricultural restrictions, but other companies usually have very limited numbers of nursery stock which cannot be shipped to California. I cannot help wondering why they even sent me the catalog.

I ordered from Michigan Bulb and Stark's this winter. It is hard to believe that Breck's, Stark's, and Michigan Bulb are owned by the same company. The Stark's items were great. In some cases I ordered the same or similar items. For example I received 25 free strawberry plants with my Stark's order that were healthy, fresh, moist and had green alive stems. I received 2 strawberry plants that I ordered from Michigan Bulb that had no green anywhere and were dry. I am very pleased with my Breck's and Stark's items.

I have ordered from Stark's several times. They have a good variety and offer many unique fruit varieties. However, I have never been impressed with the size or quality of the stock which I received. They did replace the trees that died over the winter. Once these trees got established they were fine.

Stark Brothers have been around for a long time. Many of their fruit trees are their own hybrids. I have ordered from them twice, both times the orders were very well packed and the trees were healthy and in general good shape. I planted a local nursery apple tree and a Stark tree the same weekend. The Stark tree has done much better. It has grown faster and produces fruit earlier than the local nursery tree. The catalog is well written and gives a lot of information on each tree.