Kudos to Stark Bros

March 31st, 2009

My first plant of the year has arrived, a ‘Goldcot’ Apricot Dwarf from Stark Bros, and I need to sing their praises.

I’ve talked up Stark Bros before, mentioning them as my favorite place to get fruit trees, but they beat themselves in quality this time. This dwarf apricot was around 4 feet tall, and nicely branched already. Considering it is a dwarf, that is a really nice size to get. The branching is important as well. Often you’ll get trees that aren’t much more than a trunk, and since fruit comes off tertiary branches that typically means three years of growth. With primary branches already perfectly in place (this is what I mean by nicely branched, Stark’s employees perfectly pruned the branches to create well spaced and angled primary scaffolds), it could fruit sooner. The yield won’t be large, but it’ll be something.

The tree also had really nice sized roots, and judging by the condition, it looks as if the tree had been dug and the soil washed off mere hours before delivery, obviously, thats not possible, but it looked so good I’m sure that almost no time passed between when they dug it at their nursery and when they had it sent out. This is important. Some places might dig weeks before sending, which can really hurt a plant (or kill it), so Stark’s seemingly super-quick time is a huge benefit.

If you need a specialty fruit tree, I highly recommend Stark’s as a place to shop.

Now, about the tree. Apricots are one fruit that really really benefits from allowing to ripen on the tree. They are picked, pretty immaturely, to be shipped to supermarkets because once ripe they have very little shelf life. By growing your own you can let them ripen and get a much superior fruit (actually, most fruit benefits from this IMO). I picked a dwarf variety because I didn’t want a big tree, I picked the ‘Goldcot’ one because it was bred here in Michigan so I knew it could take the winter. I also got the tree for my wife (yes, by the way, I am a man, I saw myself quoted on another blog today and I was referred to as “she”), I think apricots are alright, but she really loves them, and I’m a good husband, so I bought her a tree.

I also turned the process of planting into a how-to tutorial: How to Plant a Bareroot Tree.

Posted in: Edible Gardening, Gardening, Plant Profiles, Planting Ideas » 

2 Responses to “Kudos to Stark Bros”

  1. Daniel  Says:
    April 30th, 2009 at 8:10 am

    I can personally vouch for the great quality Stark Brother’s provides. Their quality of trees are amazing. Right now I currently have a Saturn peach, crab apple, 2 n 1 Asian pear, 2 n 1 cherry, fruit cocktail tree (no longer available), black berries, blue berries, grape vines, Nectarine, plumcot, 2 n 1 plums. Trust me my backyard is tiny but with the flexibility of having dwarfs and semi dwarfs I am able to fit much more. I would not buy fruit tress from anyone else.

    Cheers!

  2. Kim  Says:
    November 8th, 2010 at 10:12 am

    I just placed my first order from Starks for a pear, plum. peach and apple tree. All dwarf. I was wondering if you could post pictures of your Stark Bros plants so I can get an idea of what to expect in a few years.

    Great job on the blog. Love it.
    Kim

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