I have used Stark Brothers for many years. All the fruit trees, pecan trees, asparagus, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and grapes I grow now are from there. One plum tree died and they replaced it for just the shipping charge. I have been very pleased with the quality of thier stock, and if you use them I'd suggest you pay the dollar extra to have them prune it before shipping. Well, worth it.

They sell a five-in-one apple tree but if you only have room for one standard tree, consider two dwarf trees planted close together. If you know someone who gets their catalog they list fruit trees at bumper crop prices but the special pricing is not offered on their web-site.

Nancy the nancedar

Here is a link that might be useful: Stark Brothers Nursery

I recommend Stark Brothers too. We got three dwarf apple trees from them.

Just be prepared to be challenged if you plant an apple tree in Charlotte. Problems with borers and other pests and diseases make this a labor-intensive project in our climate and region, unless you're prepared to spray constantly with chemicals. Apples seem to do better in the mountains because the weather there is cooler, and pests aren't so plentiful. After watching apple and peach trees die scary deaths in my Charlotte garden I switched to figs and haven't had to spray at all.

I don't really want to negate what Shenandoah said, because it's true that apple trees do have a much harder time in the piedmont than in the mountains. However, we've had our trees for 6 years and they have bore heavily. We do not spray so they do not produce beautiful apples, but we use the apples in recipes. I have Liberty and Freedom, which are dwarf, and Granny Smith can do OK here too.

i got my 4x apple tree from either raintree or one green world- can't recall which. they have different combos and also have 3x, for cheaper. ours has done ok- though i don't spray like i should(even with the organics), so i end up losing a lot of my crop to bugs & such. i just get too busy.

tell you what's done really really well, with no fuss at all(besides figs, which are easy too)- are asian pears and my asian persimmon. took the persimmon 5 yrs to start bearing, but it had a great crop this yr(it's first). the pear is a 3x, and bore on the 2nd yr- i thinned out a lot of them. the ones left were delicious! didn't spray once all season, 'cept a dormant oil spray early spring that i doused pretty much everything with. another thing you could consider is that some places sell espaliers with different varieties on each tier- i have one of those, from ogw, i think. and you could also get 2 of the columnular varieties, which are said to do really well in pots even. both rt & ogw sell them, as well as edible landcscaping in va. probably stark's has them too. one thing i like about ed land is they only ship potted stuff. makes for more expensive shipping, but a lot less shock on the plants. another western nursery whom i've ordered from a bit is burnt ridge- and their stuff seems good, too. best of luck whatever you decide. ck dave's listing of nurseries to get an idea of who's treating customers right.

if you get the gardens alive catalog, they publish a low toxicity spraying guide in the spring(it's probably on their site, too) that gives what to spary when for apples and pears to come out nice. their whole thing is to be as organic as possible, and it's probably the closest you'll get and still have good looking non buggy fruit. i have the white clay they recommend(surround), i just haven't used it yet.

Look here. In NC

Here is a link that might be useful: Big Horse Creek Nursery

actually, i did ck at the local nurseries and to get what i could here that was reasonably priced. the only multigrafted trees i found locally were absolutely outrageous. i'm not going to get ripped off just for the sake of saying i bought it locally. never saw that site, though- nice resource for antique varieties, if that's what your'e into. because i have limited space i needed to have more than 1 type to a tree, and needed disease resistant varieties, which unfortunately, tends to means modern types. and, it doesn't look like they'll do a multi variety tree, which is what the poster was wanting. VA is only 1 state away, and i've had really good luck with reputable mailorder companies, even the west coast ones. when i was looking for mine, i searched the web over for multi's- there aren't many places that do them.

trees of antiquity

Fantastic variety of antigue and heirloom varieties.

J

A gentleman in Reidsville sells apple trees thru the NC Ag Review classifieds, $14-$18.

To acquire a free copy of Agricultural Review: 919-733-4216 located in Raleigh, free to NC residents. Apple trees being sold on back page under Seeds and Plants for Sale. Get in touch with me if you'd like to email you the ads; there is 1 in Reidsville and 1 in Raleigh. I will be planting one this year too! I havent begun my research yet, better get crackin! Robin in Lewisville NC

you can also view the ag review online.

Here is a link that might be useful: NC Ag Review

Just another vote for Stark Bros. Planted mine in late Nov. and trees are looking good. Peaches have plenty of little leaves and my two apples are budding nicely. Nice looking trees too. About 3'-4' tall but healthy looking.

greg