I've planted a lot of bare root trees but I can never seem to find bare root apple trees. Maybe I've shopped in the wrong places. Are bare root apple trees rare?

I got mine from Stark bros. Nursery

Reits in Stanley wi

jungs carries bare root stock but it is just for a short time each spring

https://www.jungseed.com/product/J30711/631

Chief river nursery

Gurney's or Burgess both used to. Gurneys had nicer trees but Burgess had a bigger selection back when I was ordering fruit trees. Had better luck with Gurney's trees, don't think I ever lost a tree I ordered from them.

don't have much of a variety but all counties have a tree sale in early spring. I have gotten bare root apples from my county. Not all counties carry the same tree species and all are bare root.
The prices usually are around $1-2/tree depending upon specie.

I have had terrible luck with Gurney's. Beware. I spent $75 on a hard to find raspberry variety i needed and got a few dead sticks. No refund, only instore credit which does me no good since I will never do business with them again.

Local nurseries are your best bet for bare root. Of course these need to be bought early spring before dormancy is broke.

I recommend this outfit for sure. Some people say a local nursery is better. But I've had great luck with Stark Bros. And, I had a friend who owns a commercial apple orchard in Michigan tell me that Stark Bros is good and that they buy some of their stock from Stark Bros., too.

If you buy from anyone else, check out their on-line reviews before you buy. I bought some trees from a nursery based out of Illinois one time and it was a disaster - they ripped me off. After the fact, I looked on-line and see that they have tons of negative feedback from other customers. I can't remember the name now - I think it might have been Burgess

One of our state universities published a paper describing the best varieties for the soil and climate in different parts of the state. Stark Bros happened to have a variety pack that included disease resistant cultivars of the exact species recommended for my area. I went with that. The trees I received were stout and healthy. We've had an apple blossom killing frost each of the prior two years. But I'm just seeing my first apples this year!


Check out Burgess Seed and Plant on Yelp: 370 reviews - only 1 out of 5 starts - lowest you can get!
Yelp review of Burgess Seed & Plant

But, it looks like Stark Bros doesn't get the greatest ratings, either.

Starks is a reputable nursery but their prices are about triple what they should be.

Here's the thing with local nurseries, the ones that are re-sellers usually aren't that good. You want the ones that grow out their own stock. These are often family operations that have been around for a long time.

And what do you get with a bare root apple tree? A donor for grafting good stuff onto?

I’ve bought 7 apple trees from gurneys and they all did good.

I own Turkey Creek Trees in northeast Kansas we ship to WI all the time. Dont waste your time with Stark Brothers, they are a shell of a company that they used to be and will charge you far more than a reasonable price. You can search the web and find us, we start taking orders for next Spring in late September.

It just means they are field grown grafted varieties and dug while dormant in the winter and generally either stored in a cold room or outside healed into sawdust. I think they tend to out perform container grown trees that are too often root bound.

A quality, bare root tree will outperform a potted tree in every case other than if you get the wild hair to plant a tree in the middle of the summer. You can technically plant a potted tree anytime during the "growing season", bare roots are typically only planted from late Winter through late Spring.

Stark, Fedco, Apples of Antiquity.... plenty of places.

Which pear varieties are the most fireblight resistant?

Kieffer
Pineapple
Orient
Tyson
Warren
Magness
Potomac

And a long list of others.

Incidentally, the USDA world pear collection is just down the road from me. You can get cuttings of any variety in the collection for free.

Thank you, warrior.