the suggestion by the seller.. that one will magically stop growing at some predetermined height .. as compared to their own stock is a bit disingenuous ... or mis-informed ...

otherwise.. 6 of this... half dozen of the other ... checkbook rules ...

ken

Thanks Ken, I know what you're saying. It could have just been a mis informed employee giving me this information. Reason I know it wasn't some one in charge was because I asked them about my concern of being root bound and she said "Mary said that you can gently put a few slices in the roots and it won't damage the plant." Mary is one of the owners.

I know neither are great, but is root bound or not rooted better? After reading reviews of AG.com, a couple people have said that half of the ones they received wheren't rooted and all the dirt fell from the roots as they lifted them from the pot. Both seem to be fairl good companies, they both have there good and some bad reviews (but doesn't every company now-a-days?).

I guess it'll come down to if I want to spend the extra $88 and get the larger/fuller plants and the 1 year guarantee.

Getting a 1 year guarantee for $4 would make my decision right there. Add onto that they are a year larger and fuller looking already.....seems a no brainer to me. I'd spend the money.

mark

Yeah, you have a point. Paying a little more to get a better plant and a guarantee that could give me a little piece of mind may be worth the extra few bucks per plant. I might order them later tonight.

It'll be around $15 per plant which is still expensive (I just bought a few emerald greens for the side of my house for $6 at the local store - 1 gal 3 feet). Unfortunetly, these aren't sold local. I guess they are very popular, but still rare to find them local. Not sure why, they grow so fast that you think the big box stores could make a fortune off of them since people would buy dozens at a time lol.

not sure about your area- but the local homedepot in my area this year has been selling smaller green giants for 14.95 each. I picked up around 12 so far this year. just a heads up if you happen to have a store near you.

I wish our local store sold these, I've been to a few different HomeDepot, Lowes, Walmart, etc. Each store had what looked to be at least 100+ Emerald Greens, but no Green Giants.

Yesterday I placed the order with GGP.com. The total out the door price including shipping was $15/plant which isn't to bad since it has the 1 year guarantee.

Take the guarantee and buy the plants now. Green Giants seem to suffer from many problems and are near the top in regard to the most posts on this forum with people wanting to know why they die, fell over or browned out. I suspect 75% of the issues are buyer related with the other 25% poor plants sold buy grower. When you buy in quantity, 5-20, 2-3 usually don't make it for one reason or another. I would purchase 1-2 extra just for replacements.

All nursery stock going to take a big jump this fall and those contemplating landscapes or property screens should buy now.

Save your receipts and good luck.

Dave

Not to threadjack, but Dave, what is your argument for a pending price spike? Thinking back on the one thread a month or two ago, it seemed the consensus is that most nurseries/suppliers are suffering financially, have too much inventory on hand, and are 'selling the farm' to big box stores (hence the less common specimens that are being seen more regularly in those locations). That would mean cheaper prices.

Rick, if you assume a few are going to die, by my math you'd be able to buy 9 extra smaller ones and break even on the price (assuming flat rate shipping). The question then is, do you think you'll have 9 die out of the 20 you buy in order to warrant the price difference AND is it worth the extra money for larger sizes which will not be significantly noticeable (you're not going to have a total screen right off the bat either way).

Steg

I agree with Dave on the pricing. My locals are definately going to go up this fall. Their reasoning....Gas Prices !

It's not the growers that are going up on prices. I believe it's true many of those guys are pretty hungry. But freight is going through the roof right now. Truckers are already seeing $5 plus per gallon for deisel. So getting a truck to come from the Northwest down to our neck of the woods is going to get tougher and tougher unless a retailer can fill a truck....and then the gas is still going to push the freight costs up considerably from what they have been.

Used to be you could get a truck to bring trees down here for between $50-$100 a foot. Come this fall it's going to be a whole new ballgame. Then the retailers will have to take their normal markup on those increased costs pushing things up pretty fast. On small plants you can pack deep the incremental costs are small. But you start talking big stock items like trees and you can kill a lot of feet in a truck in a hurry.

Here's a perfect example......

A couple of weeks ago I wanted a tree really bad from an in-state grower. It was $80. He's about 3 1/2 hours from me. He wanted $125 to ship it to me. I said " Pay $125 to ship an $80 tree...forget it. I'll come pick it up. "

So I did. I took a day off and burned a day's vacation, drove round trip ( tank and a half of gas ) for $110 in gas, and stopped and ate a nice lunch to break up the trip a little. At the end of the day I had to laugh at myself when I thought about what I had actually spent to go get that tree versus simply having him ship it.

Anyway, costs are going up!

mark

Inflation being what it is (high), everything growers use is also going to get more expensive: water, fertilizer, pesticides, pots...you name it. Factor in that many of those resources are petroleum based, and steep price increases are inevitable. I feel particularly bad for the folks running mail-order nurseries. Which reminds me, it's time to max out my credit card with a shipment from Oregon...

I agree, I think everything is going up and has been since the start of the year. It's only a matter of time, if it hasn't happened already, that growers will start to raise prices. With that said 2 questions....

1. Is it safe to purchase conifers end of May/June and keep in a shady location in the container that receives morning sun?
2. Is it safe to plant these in fall?

Reason I ask is because I have a lot of plants at home I am planting that will take me a a solid week if not longer. After this, I have other projects that I need to do before the heat of the summer and won't be able to do much planting. Plus July is usually our hottest month (80-90) I like planting early spring to get them in well before the heat. I'm not sure if It'll be a better idea to buy now and store until I can plant in September or just wait until next year to purchase these and risk the price hike.

The Botany shop has provided several shipments of quality plants to me, including GG.
On prices, fertilizer prices go up with fuel as well.

Thanks Mrandal... Actually I had already purchased and planted the ones from Great Garden Plants. They arrived just over 2' tall in 1 gallons and surprisingly weren't root bound which was a huge concern. Everyone said they wouldn't grow much the first year because they would need time to establish, right now most are over 3' tall! So they have grown a good foot in the last 3-4 months.