Don't Be Fooled - What To Look For Before You Buy Anything At A Garden Center Or Tree Nursery

By Author: Steven Becker
Total Articles: 16
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Visiting a Tree Farm, Nursery, or Garden Center can be a fun and relaxing time. Looking at all of the plants, shrubs, and trees and envisioning how they will fit into your landscaping plans. But there are some crucial things you need to look at before you buy; otherwise your beautiful plant or tree, that looked so good when you bought it, will turn your landscape into an eyesore.

A True Story:

Nancy loves plants and trees, nature, and wildlife; but she just bought a new house in a new development that has minimal landscaping and no privacy. Spring Time comes and Nancy is excited to enhance her landscape. So Nancy goes to her local garden center to pick out some plants and trees. She is so happy when she arrives; all the plants and trees look so nice. Nancy wants instant privacy so she picks the biggest trees they have, but they are too big for her to handle so she has the garden center deliver and plant the trees. She watches as the crew at the Garden Center moves her trees off to the side. She cringes as they pull her tree out from the others because she can hear the branches breaking as they get caught on the ...
... other trees.

A year goes by and the trees that Nancy had planted just don't look as nice as they did in the garden center. Some of her Spruce Trees have brown branches on the bottom and they look kind of yellow. Nancy calls up the garden center to complain, they come out and say that the tree is fine and is just a little stressed. They say it will fill out next year and will look great. "OK" Nancy says.

Well, next year comes, and Nancy's Trees do not look any better, but it is still not dead and by this time its warranty has expired. Year after Year the tree looks to barley hang on. The branches are thinning and slowly the tree passes away. Now Nancy wishes she had never bought those trees. If only Nancy had read my article she could have had a tree that will always look as good as it did the day she bought it.

Don't be Nancy!

Here are some things to Consider:

Rootball Size - This is the biggest factor of why your tree will suffer down the road. Trees need roots - The more the better! Christmas Trees look good when you buy them, but what happens buy New Years - they die. A lot of Garden Centers are selling trees that are not much better than Christmas Trees. It only makes sense from their perspective. Dirt is extremely heavy and things that are heavy become costly. They are more expensive to move, plant, and install. It is cheaper for them to have to replace a tree if it dies than to sell a tree that is destined to live. The size of a rootball will tell you how it will look down the road. If one garden center is cheaper, don't just compare the tree but compare the roots.

How it is watered - Many Garden Centers water their trees different ways and some don't seem to water them at all. Once the rootball has been dried out, a lot of damage has already been done. Make sure the place where you are buying your trees is keeping them watered.

Potted or Balled and Burlapped - Do not be fooled into thinking that if you are buying it potted, somehow it is better than balled and burlapped. It is not uncommon in the industry for a tree to be dug out early in the spring and placed in a pot, instead of placed in burlap. All this does is make you think that it was grown in the pot. Be sure to ask how long it has been in the pot. If you get a balled and burlapped tree make sure that the burlap and wire basket is tight; if it is loose, root damage will occur when it is moved around.

Warranty - This is a big misconception, I have replaced many of my competitors' trees that supposedly had a warranty, but the tree was not dead - just 1/2 dead and ugly - so they don't replace it. Other times the customer was told by the garden center that they did not water the tree and they were not going to replace it. While the customer might have not given it the proper amount of water at all times, if you get a tree that has a larger root system you have a lot more wiggle room to make mistakes.

How it is Handled - The more a tree is handled the more root damage can occur. The best is if a tree spade, mounted on a truck moves it directly from the field to your yard. If you cannot go that route make sure that they are using the proper equipment to plant the trees. Few things are worse for a tree than to be dropped, kicked, pulled, and pried; this is what will happen if they are not using the proper equipment to plant the tree.
If you follow these guidelines you can be confident that your trees will look good years down the road and that your tree becomes an investment to your landscape and not an expense. The tips I gave you here are what sets my Milwuakee Garden Center located in SE Wisconsin - apart from many others. If you have just bought trees from a garden center and are worried about making sure that you tree is watered adequately please take a look at my online Milwaukee Tree Nursery website for detailed watering instructions. We serve Ozaukee and surrounding counties and have tree spades that we can use to install the trees in your yard to give you the greatest success rate of any method used to move and plant a tree.


I am a landscaper, tree mover, as well and specialize in Mature Landscaping; and do landscape design, privacy screens, berms, tree lines, bed maintenance, mulching, and much more. With Mature Landscaping you will make an Instant Impact to your yard and will be able to enjoy it for years. With my tree spade I can plant, move, and install Big Trees that will provide instant privacy and shade. I have a large selection of trees for sale (evergreens, shade trees, ornamental, and flowering) on my website along with many other helpful hints and detailed information about a variety of different trees.

Steven Becker

Owner

Tree Transplanters, llc

http://www.TreeTransplanters.org