Roots looked kind of weird,..on the black side, how do you check for root damage?

Let me know how they come through the Post Canada torture.

One think caught my eye, "Apples are one of the most difficult fruit to grow organically." I would think that could be said about peaches more than apples.

I hope you double posted this to the Canadian forum.

I've received hundreds of trees through the mail from a dozen nurseries over the years. I've never received trees as sorry looking as the ones they sent you.

They don't get like that through shipping. Those trees were sent out that way. The people you are dealing with are crooks.

Once I had a nursery ship me some blackberry plants w/ no packing whatever and the plants still didn't look as bad as the photos you posted.

The nectarine is dead. I can't tell from the photo if the peach is dead or not, but it looks bad. Even the scion portion of the plum with the sorry graft looks a little shriveled.

It's as you say, they either let the trees dry out in storage over winter, or dug them in the spring after they were winter killed.

I'm sorry, Konrad. You're going to lose a year of growth and production thanks to them. I hope you at least get a refund. Good luck.

OH...did I mentioned,..the Montreal black Mulberry I ordered, see picture, has no graft! Just crocked, looks like I got a seedling,... I asked, no reply!
Ken probably didn't think I know anything about grafts etc.

I'll mention to Ken that all are planted but I have much doubt
that any will grow and I will contact him in about 3 weeks.

This Mulberry,..the ONLY tree which I have no doubt is going to grow and was freshly dug,....they quickly ran out to the field to FIX my order, ..since storage run out.

I then mailed back and said that I bought one from Green Barn, [with picture] showing without a graft, asked if he thinks that I got a seedling, he hasn't responded, I mailed again,..nothing! I'm thinking now that he decided to better be quiet before he's getting into trouble.

In the mean time I got mail from Ken and he explains...

K.......No grafts..... we do most of our mulberries from summer soft wood cuttings under mist...no graft to weaken hardiness of tree that way....Ken

That would be awesome! Do I have to believe it,...I don't know.

Since the mulberry looks in normal condition,..[not fried as the other trees in the mail as Green Barn says] tells me, that there is prove that it had nothing to do with shipping,...he's just making a bunch of good stories!

In the meantime I got mail from Whiffletree about my Mulberry question,..

By looking at the picture you sent it looks like your tree is a seedling.
You will still get good fruit but it may be black, white or even lavender.
I'm going to ask someone with a little more experience their opinion on your
other trees. We'll let you know what we can do.
Thanks!
Robyn

Looks like they still work together. I would think the son would know if dad is doing any summer root cuttings.

This day and age of the internet word gets around quickly about the places that do not care about quality or customers. Maybe they should try for honesty and rename themselves The black root barn.

Hopefully they give you a quick refund.

Hello Ken,
these pictures from yesterday,..
It's now over 3 weeks and I'm showing you the trees what have no sign of life, the rest, for the most part are pushing,
some have a few leaves, overall, very disappointing. [Only Mulberry looks healthy]

Please, I would like full refund on these 5 trees.

Best Regards,

Konrad

He's still blaming Post Canada..

Konrad...yes the photos do not look good but the cambium tissue still looks alive on most.....suggest you cut back to a few inches above graft to see if you can get the roots to push some new secondary buds. The trees seemed to have been mishandled beyond normal shipping stresses as they all left our farm well packed and alive. You can check with Post Canada to see why they took so long to deliver your order and make a claim against them. We do not give refunds but will replace any dead trees this fall or next spring.

Ken

My reply,..

So, you're still trying to blame post again, first they oven fried it and now it took too long. NO, it didn't, it came at normal time frame, (regular shipping).
They should have been shipped allot sooner! (Some were dry and dead at shipping, only Mulberry looked good)

If oven fried or blaming post Canada, why Mulberry looked in
perfect shape?

I will cut them, but fact is, these
trees are way beyond normal
and even if something will shoot
out, these new "late growth" will
most likely kill the tree in winter
since no proper hardening off!

1

Didn't you Glenn, thought about to report in the watchdog?

Gardenweb does have a forum for ratings but it doesn't seem to get much use. I have found Garden Watchdog to be more useful in this one instance.

I never tried to buy any seeds or plants on eBay and have since started saying no to Amazon. There are all types selling old seed and un-rooted cuttings on Amazon. I use a google search and use a real established 24/7 nursery that guarantees.

And some excellent sellers on EBay too, sure some bad ones, but you know they have feedback there that is very useful. I bought seeds from a French organic farm off EBay, excellent product. Also from a nursery in the UK. I love EBay! Some excellent Kentucky tomato heirlooms were bought on EBay, from Blue Ribbon Tomatoes, such cool, well documented history, like Aunt Lou's Underground Railroad It is rare to find such an historically significant vegetable treasure
with this kind of provenence. A black man from Kentucky, traveling through
the Underground Railroad, arrived in Ripley, Ohio, with the seeds of this
tomato variety. Ripley, Ohio, where many slaves crossed the river to
freedom, is home to Rankin House, a well known stop on the Underground
Railroad and now a museum. The black man later shared seeds with a woman named Lou, who later shared seeds with her great nephew Francis Parker, who lives in Sardinia, Ohio. Sixty years later Francis shared seeds with Wilfred Ellis, owner of Ellis' Feed Mill. Wilfred shared them with Susan Barber, who shared them with Kentucky tomato guru Gary Millwood and me.
This tomato is a 4- 12 ounce, round, dark pink, canner or cooking tomato, juicy and seedy with thin skin and an acidic flavor, some having green shoulders. Sparse regular leaf foliage. The seeds are irregular in size and shape. This is not a "New and Improved" variety but it has performed better each year over the last several growing seasons I've had it. In 2011 it grew well and produced well even in standing water through the spring.

Some excellent pepper seeds too, some super rare. Seed For Africa has some excellent pepper seeds. Hell Hot Peppers offers seeds nobody else has, awesome stuff on EBay! EBay rocks! My tzimbalo plant from an EBay seller is awesome! Grew from seeds.

Does Windmill Point Farm have anything to do with Green Barn? I found a link on their website for Green Barn Nursery (aka Green Barn Farm?)

http://www.windmillpointfarm.ca/page.home/language_id.1

If you scroll to the very bottom of the WD page it has a link for "Add a new company to the list".

Also, their maze of ownership, "Who owns what?" should be updated to show the two companies are related.

It seems that the WD links are not working right now. I hope the problem is rectified soon.

Greenbarn nursery was in bankruptcy protection in 2013, it seems that they have exited this year.

Prior to the bankruptcy a Mennonite family in Elora Ontario started an affiliation/franchise (Greenbarn Elora). Following the bankruptcy my understanding is that they are no longer formally affiliated and thus changed their name to Whiffletree farm and nursery. This explains why their website and stock closely resembles Greenbarn. My understanding is that they are completely different entities at this point with their own rootstock and plantings. To further complicate matters Steve Leroux is the stepson of Ken of Greenbarn and he left Greenbarn to start his own orchard consulting business as well as to assist in the running of Whiffletree which is why you can see him in the photos and videos of Greenbarn but you talk to him on the phone when you call Whiffletree.

I have bought plants from Greenbarn in the past. I no longer order from them.

I currently order all my plants from either Whiffletree or Pepiniere Ancestrale. With these 2 companies I have had no issues with tree quality (currently 100% survival), communication or payments. For people looking for cold hardy fruit trees and bushes I can strongly recommend both. They have different varieties and availability so both complement each other. Pepiniere Ancestrale is probably 0.5 to 1 zone colder than Whiffletree but so far I have not had deaths down to -35 but we had a good snow cover last winter. Follow my post below for updates as the years go by.

You can see a more detailed listing of what I have planted at:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg092211376486.html?5

Again, this is not to promote any particular business, just to state my personal experience.

BTW, did any of those trees survive?

I bought a bare root tree this spring and forgot it in my garage and when I finally found it it looked like kindling wood. It was a Mirabelle.

I soaked in in room temp water for 24 hours and put it in the ground. Man, did it look like a sorry sight.

SIX weeks later at the end of May I saw the tiniest green growth about 3 inches above the graft union. Then another and a third.

Today these shoots are 40 inches tall and next spring I will have to decide which will become the new main trunk.

Mike

Steve from Whiffletree has a new website, [looked the same as Greenbarn before] owned by Mennonites, he contacted me the other day,..knows what happened and he said that I should let him know which trees didn't make it and that he will see what he can do, I find this very nice from him, since he had nothing to with my order.
Steve has his own website...below

Just looked into Green barn nursery, also has new website, it's called Green Barn Farm. Guess, that's what you got to do, declare bankruptcy when scamming customers for too long.

Glenn

Remember,...Edmonton is not Calgary!

Just took some pictures and have sent the list which are dead or look bad.

So far,..out of the 10 trees, 4 never had a sign of live, even the root stock never showed anything at this time.

The two worst alive,... this one I had to cut down, only one branch grew a little.

Got an answer the other day, said that he will ship trees with my new order. LOL ... what a thief!

I said, wish I could but common sense tells me to grow the dead replacements trees first.

Glenn