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Problem with cedars from state nursery

Nontypcl1

Nontypcl1

Member
John from the Iowa State Nursery called me yesterday and told me the bad news about my order for 500 cedars. Looks like I won't be getting any this year due to a disease they had. I guess phomopsis, a fungal disease that attacks junipers, wiped out thousands of cedars at the nursery this year. He didn't feel comfortable sending them out will be moving my order back to next year.
 
Ouch! Any places you could possibly order from? I've never looked or tried this late BUT not sure if the millions of growers like Coldstream nursery might have any (that's one name of tons)- might be a little more BUT if you're only talking 500-1000 and it gains you a year of growth- might be worth it?
 
I would of liked a phone call too. At least it wasn't 500 or more they did this with.

I ordered for the first time this spring from IA's nursery.

I recieved my trees on thurs. afternoon. I put them in a cool dark outbuilding as I couldn't plant them till today. They were enclosed in a sealed paper bag and then sealed in a poly bag inside that so I decided not to break the seal thurs when I got them. Today I opened them up to plant and was majorly disappointed. The 50 17-24" cedar were beat to he!!, the uppers were broke off along with the tap roots. They must all be fisherman at that nursery as what they call 17-24" were six inches shy of that slot. To top that off the root systems were dry.

My 100 wild plum were in a smidge better condition, at least the tops were all beat up however the root systems are pretty dried out.

Of the thousands of trees I have planted in my lifetime I have never recieved seedlings where the roots were not covered/planted in some medium to keep the roots moist for a considerable time after being placed in a container to ship.

The 50 hybrid willow cuttings(about the size of a pencil and smaller) were in a bag like mentioned above but packed anywhich way, some with planting end down and some with it up. They were all mixed up. I went through them and got them all the same way. While doing this I notice that some of the cuttings have full leafs on them. I am concerned it was too late for these to go into the ground.

I decided to plant them as I have no idea if the nursery would give me a refund and any longer out of soil just made it that much more certain they were going to be dead. I am calling monday to discuss my experience and their product with them.

If they won't send me quality replacements but will refund my money including shipping I am going to pull everyone of them up and send them back.
 
I received my order of 100 17-24" cedar trees on Friday and they were in poor condition (both health and size) as well. I have ordered trees from the State Forest Nursery the past 6 years and this is the first time I have had any negative issues.

Makes me wonder if they don't have the fungal disease also. I never heard anything from their office last week. I am going to check in with them Monday.
 
Now I am worried! I am only getting 200 trees but they are supposed to be here in two weeks. I had 50 red cedars in the order but I have not gotten any calls from the nursery about them being canceled. ????? Any problems with the Norways, or the white pines?
 
I called the nursery today and had a very good conversation with them. They are going to stand behind their product. I am to monitor the seedlings on survival through the year and let them know. If a number don't make it they will make it right.

She did say that perhaps the inmates didn't pay attention to detail when filling the order and placing them into the bags.
 
I'm in the same situation. Had ordered 1400 of them and was told that they wouldn't feel right sending them. Wound up replacing them with some white spruce and gonna try some white pines as well even though I was told the deer will probably eat them all. So bwese are you under the impression that they over filled earlier orders and ran out?
 
This is very disappointing after not get my cedar order last year due to deer damage at the nursery. If they do send them and they are planted, can this spread to existing cedars in the area?
 
I was told by their office that the fungus may spread to other cedars on the farm I have planted. However if they are approximately 3 ft. or taller it should not affect them much. The fungus is lethal on most seedling sized cedars.

When you plant a 17-24" cedar seedling that is infected with the fungus and is already 50% brown or more. It does not have the health and strength to establish a good root system and death is the result.

Bad news for us wanting to plant cedars the past 2 years from the state forest nursery but at least they are owning up to the problem. I commend them for that!
 
I've got a sore back and 1300 cedars in the ground by hand over the past 2 weeks and now I read this! Some of them look great, and some of them were suspect, but I didn't know what to expect, so I assumed they will come out of it. I'm going to be pissed if if have a high death rate. The one thing I saw that I thought was wrong was many of my trees had been girdled by rodents. I'm talking about a big section of the tree 3-4 inches of the trunk with no bark on it. Why even ship those trees?
 
Butch,

My guess is that they decided to fill small orders as large ones were for big projects so why start a project half arsed if they can only fill a portion of it. My order went in Feb. after they opened it to out of staters.(maybe they don't like the huskers):D

I suspect that the inmates who work for them don't really give a rat's arse and fill the order whether it be healthy trees or dying trees. It all pays the same, what are they going to do fire them? If an inmate is really in charge of quality control then I am really wonder.

The fungus was explained to me as it only is contagious to small cedars like previously mentioned and that adults have out grown the ability to be affected by the disease.

I will watch like a hawk, the seedling and cuttings I bought and report back how mine turn out.
 
They canceled my order last Monday and on Friday they cashed my check. Not sure what kind of operation they are running over there.
 
Kelly tree farm out of Clarence has red cedars if anyone is looking for a place. They are about twice the price so I had to cut my order in half but I figured something is better than nothing.
 
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