04/13/2026
My family has been in the fruit tree nursery business for over 75 years and in my over 50 years of handling, growing, storing, receiving and shipping bareroot fruit trees I’ve seen a lot of things that I put in the “bone head” practice category.
Last week I missed the chance to actually experience one of those practices. Among my other nursery duties I essentially am in charge of handling the receipt of fruit tree nursery stock from many of the best nurseries in the US at our cold storage/warehouse facility in Watervliet, MI. (I had a doctors appointment that day and she said I’d live until the next one in six months!)
I won’t name names here, but I hope the well respected and renown nursery in California recognizes the load and the competing tree broker takes notice. As a fruit tree broker myself, I care very much about how trees are shipped and cared for during the days it may take to truck from the West Coast or Eastern US. Today’s load came in on a semi that had already made a few stops, so I don’t know when he left California. The driver was one of who had trouble communicating in English and I am sure he didn’t know an apple tree from a peach tree from a cherry tree and I’m sure he didn’t watch his trailer as it was being loaded. Most don’t care.
First “bone head” practice was not identifying the drops well enough for the warehouse help to really know what they were supposed to unload. Usually I try to unload the trucks myself, but unfortunately, our warehouse guy that morning didn’t know how far into the load he was supposed to unload. My daughter, who is the manager of the facility, does know trees and figured it out.
Second “bonehead” practice was loading the semi for a cross-country trip with totally unprotected bareroot trees racked up on pallets with no root covering or moisture holding material on the roots. Maybe they were wet roots when loaded, but after a few drops they were totally dry. Every time that driver opened up the load, the humidity in the trailer disappeared and more moisture was surely sucked out of the bareroots.
Third “bonehead” practice was shipping tall un-headed trees in racks where there was no protection for the extra tops. Those beautiful sweet cherry trees are likely now “one-sided” on the tops where they were forced in and rubbed against the side walls of the trailer. Perhaps the grower buying them wanted them un-headed, but he may surely complain when the tops don’t bud out as well as expected. The tops get rubbed going in and may likely be broken and rubbed on the other sides on removal from the load.
Fourth “bonehead” error was assuming that the receiving warehouse was actually capable of handling unprotected bareroot fruit trees. In Michigan, and I would assume many fruit areas, the receiving warehouse is typically an apple cold storage where humidity control is difficult, although the temperatures may be maintained in a good tree storage range. Most receivers and not experienced in handing bareroot, don’t have the nursery knowledge to keep roots properly moist, etc. They have been handling boxed and completely wrapped racked trees that stay only a few weeks at most--- not exposed bareroot trees that will dry out every day. At Watervliet, we will not knowingly handle racks of unprotected bareroot trees for these reasons. We do have a business in the basement storages where we do handle and ship bareroot “onsie-twosies" to home gardeners and we do know how to care for them properly.
Sixth “bonehead” practice was on the ellepot grown peach trees. Just thrown on top of another order, fully leafed out, and expecting the grower in Michigan to handle them properly. They ride in the truck for several days in total darkness, then go into cold storage in total darkness waiting for the grower to come pick them up and maybe plant them out too early in the spring. Michigan weather is typically all over the place--- from frosty to 75 degrees in the spring, windy and not conducive to a “box” tree taking off properly. I suspect these nicely grown peach trees will lose most of the leaves and not get a good start until the weather warms up in the summer.
In all my years of working with the best nurseries across the country and a few of the worst, I find it crazy that some of them will send out growers’ orders in such ways depending on the grower to make up for their mistakes in shipping. It doesn’t make sense to grow beautiful trees and then mishandle the storage and/or shipping of the trees.
Also, it pays to work with a tree fruit salesman/broker who cares enough to follow up and watch how they are packed and shipped and not just book the order and wait for the commission check. There are a few of us in the industry still who give a $ #!+.
I would like to sell for this company, but I know I cannot book enough orders with them to make it worthwhile for them to deal with me, or really for me to say in good faith I represent them.
Enough said. Rant over. Fruit tree nursery season in the spring is stressful for all!
