Poll

What is The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?

Hopkins
Excalibur
Treehouse
Fruitscapes (The New Treehouse)
Pine Island Nursery
Zill High Performance Trees (Wholesale only, but still in the running!)
Garden of Delights
OTHER
Top Tropicals
Echo Farms
Lara Farms
Just Fruits and Exotics
 Bender's Tropical Grove
Tropical Acres Farms
Jene's Tropicals
Rockledge Nursery

Author Topic: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?  (Read 17208 times)

bsbullie

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #25 on: April 08, 2012, 01:00:36 AM »
From our great forum:

Bender's Tropical Grove
Tropical Acres Farms

also:

Jene's Tropicals
« Last Edit: October 16, 2014, 07:48:14 PM by murahilin »
- Rob

adiel

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #26 on: April 09, 2012, 12:15:50 PM »
+1 for Lara Farms.   Unique selection.  Also, what other nursery does the owner (Pablo) or his son (Julian) take the time to personally show you the trees you are looking for?  Other places I have gone they usually call someone else to go take you to pick the tree who is not willing or not knowing to share knowledge of fruit trees.
Adiel

Cookie Monster

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #27 on: April 09, 2012, 12:29:09 PM »
HAHAHAHAH Thanks :-)

What about adding Elsy's Plants to the list...threw you a bone, or should I say cookie, Jeff  ;) :) 8)
Jeff  :-)

BENDERSGROVE

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #28 on: April 09, 2012, 12:40:12 PM »
Thanks for the mention, I think folks in south florida are lucky to have so many places to choose from and a group of people running these nurseries who are always willing to help. Unlike many other types of businesses,these nurseries all work well together in a world where knocking your competition is the norm. We are glad to be associated with a great group of proffesionals! Thanks again ,Mike Bender

FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #29 on: May 13, 2016, 05:53:42 PM »
current list of some of my favorite nurseries (I have more favorites, not listed though  ;D )

in no particular order:

Zill High Performance Plants

Excalibur (huge plants, rare plants, amazing place to visit and buy fruit...if you see Sheehan, tell him I said "hi"..and ask if there are any grafted illamas for sale..I'll take two...hahaha)

Pine Island

Just Fruits and Exotics (all your 't's will be crossed, and lowercase 'j''s dotted...these guys are on point, some of the best plants you can find)

Plant-o-Gram (Mickey is a mensch)

Ray Jones Nursery (Ray Jones has great rare stuff, he loves Annonas, and I love his plants...he was the source for my Annona salzmannii scions, which produced my current mother tree)

Greens Nursery (Ray Green is a mensch)

Our Kids Tropicals (winter garden FL, excellent Plinia collection, my good friend Larry Shatzer)

Florida Hill Nursery (good for tissue cultured plants and small starter plugs, great guy who owns it)

Fruit Lovers Nursery (I learned a lot from this guy!  He's one of the best in the biz!  Probably the best source for tropical fruit seeds in the world..his nursery isn't in FL, but he delivers to FL..so he's in FL!)

Trees'n'More (another one of my favorite places to visit...amazing collection...the owner Mike propagates some rare stuff...got some grafted mulberries from him, and some grafted Che....they are some of my most prized plants...hard to find)



that's all i can think of for now, but I may add a few more...
www.FlyingFoxFruits.com

www.PLINIAS.com

https://www.ebay.com/usr/flyingfoxfruits

www.youtube.com/FlyingFoxFruits

https://www.instagram.com/flyingfoxfruits/
I disabled the forum's personal messaging system, please send an email to contact me, FlyingFoxFruits@gmail.com

fruitlovers

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #30 on: May 13, 2016, 06:28:00 PM »
You Floridians are really lucky to have so many great nurseries there! Here it's slim pickens here by comparison. Oh, i just found out i am also really in Florida, just because Adam says so! HAHA Thanks buddy for the compliment and the plug.  :)  It's great to be in the nursery business with great fellow nurserymen/women. We can all learn a lot from each other.
Oscar

gpuccio

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #31 on: May 13, 2016, 07:13:47 PM »
Anikulapo:

The 'new' Treehouse is Fruitscapes Nursery.

http://www.floridafruitscapes.com/

jabomano

Bad link ^

Correct link - http://www.fruitscapesllc.com

LivingParadise

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #32 on: May 13, 2016, 09:57:17 PM »
Another mention for Going Bananas as an option, even though he specializes in bananas. The grounds also contain a wide variety of other tropical fruits and flowers, and apparently he sells lychees and other things when they are in season.

Also, what about Richard Lyons Nursery? I have not been there yet, but am planning to go. He seems to have a wide selection, including some pretty rare stuff, and I like that there is a good selection of natives.

I can't really vote as of now. I have only been to Pine Island and Top Tropicals out of the entire list thus far, and I would say that both have good points and bad points that are a reason I've been a repeat customer, and also a reason I continue to look for something else that better fits what I'm looking for in a nursery. While both have some elements that leave much to be desired, I do really appreciate that both have a wide selection of plants. Pine Island Nursery is closer to where I am and cheaper, and Top Tropicals has a selection that cannot be denied. But I will keep looking.

Although this is not really fitting for the category, there are a number of online sellers too that have good selections, healthy plants, and good prices. I have found a number of them for instance on Etsy and Amazon, that apparently are based in Florida. Again, many of these also have native plants, which can be very hard to come by as many are endangered, but some of which have very good fruit, and of course grow very easily here.

Additionally, I have not tried them yet, but I have had my eye on Florida Nursery Mart, which is a bit far for me to drive to, but apparently ships, and delivers direct locally. I don't think anyone mentioned them. They are not really for connoisseurs of rare tropical fruit, but they seem like a good alternative when you just want a popular fruit plant and cannot get it where you live, or really need something shipped. I saw some good reviews online. They had a few things that I could not find ANYWHERE else available for online shipping, which is why I have been deciding lately whether or not to try ordering from them.

I would love to see recommendations for nurseries in the Homestead or southern Miami area with a decent selection, affordable prices, and at least 1 rep who speaks English and actually helps you when you show up. I know there are a ton of growers in the area, but most seem to be large farms and are not really customer service oriented, or have no one who speaks English - and that gets complicated when you need to be certain of varieties, or ask specific questions. I speak some Spanish, but not scientific Spanish. Going even into Northern Miami means over 100 miles round trip for me, plus the hours at the nursery itself, so is too exhausting to do almost ever. But the Keys has really terrible selection, prices, and also for the most part very few people who know much about plants. There are a few exceptions, but they're not even close to being one-stop shopping.


So yes, answering this poll really depends on what you're looking for, and also whether you weigh a nursery that is 250 miles away equally to the one 40 miles away from you, given shipping costs. It's not entirely fair either, because I may rate a nursery that ships lower because let's say they pack the plants poorly and they always show up damaged, but the closer nursery plants look great because I get to see them fresh and in person - often for a lower price because there is no shipping cost. Because of this, many of us are likely to favor closer nurseries, even subconsciously, unless we have been fortunate enough to travel to see farther away ones in person. I might really like some of the nurseries in Northern Florida, but why would I go there if I can get everything I need nearby? So I wonder how many people have had the opportunity to go to all of these in person - and yet are not in the nursery business themselves to be biased - to really give a fair comparison?

And that's where shout-outs here in the comments can be helpful, at least!


I'll bet you though many people on this forum would be interested if there was a poll for "best nursery for shipping" (perhaps in the US, and Internationally) - because that affects SO many of us, and is so hard to come by. You need variety, good prices and handling costs, healthy plants, and also good packing practices, as well as good customer service if there is a problem. Add to that for Int'l shipping the nightmare of customs. That is very hard for any company to excel in across the board, but would be great to know the best few nurseries for certain categories of plant.

Mark in Texas

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #33 on: May 14, 2016, 09:53:57 AM »
PIN folks were very nice to ship an assortment of plants i also bought at other nurseries. I ended up buying the most  plants from PIN and just a few from Hopkins and Gardens of Delight. PIN put all my plants together and did a great job of packing everything together in one very strong box.

Regarding mail order, can't speak with experience except for PIN and I have to agree - the service and pristine quality of stock and incredible packing/shipping blew me away. Have ordered several times to Texas and the trees always arrive looking like they were still sitting in the nursery.  Plus if you want to just shoot the chit about gardening they are great to talk to.

Mark in Texas

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #34 on: May 14, 2016, 10:01:12 AM »
I respect anyone in the nursery business unless they are a scam operation which is very uncommon. Nurseries and agriculture are essential to America. I respect all farmers in America and around the world. If reincarnation is true I would like to come back as a wheat and bean farmer in Nebraska, Iowa or the Dakotas. The world needs to eat so farmland prices are going up in those states

Trust me Zands, you don't want to be a farmer!  :) Mother nature is a cruel master.  I've had my butt kicked every which way but Sunday farming different crops.  Try planting 1,750 trees out of 1 gal. pots, head down hiney up, only to have baseball size hail and winds destroy it all....and then there's the lightning strike that took out my newly installed submersible well pump, controller, all electronics.   

You will not know your tolerance for risk and loss until you've been there done that.

Mark



 


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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #35 on: May 14, 2016, 11:31:42 AM »
HAHAHA yah, farmers are a special breed. Huge difference between hobby farming and farming for a living.

I respect anyone in the nursery business unless they are a scam operation which is very uncommon. Nurseries and agriculture are essential to America. I respect all farmers in America and around the world. If reincarnation is true I would like to come back as a wheat and bean farmer in Nebraska, Iowa or the Dakotas. The world needs to eat so farmland prices are going up in those states

Trust me Zands, you don't want to be a farmer!  :) Mother nature is a cruel master.  I've had my butt kicked every which way but Sunday farming different crops.  Try planting 1,750 trees out of 1 gal. pots, head down hiney up, only to have baseball size hail and winds destroy it all....and then there's the lightning strike that took out my newly installed submersible well pump, controller, all electronics.   

You will not know your tolerance for risk and loss until you've been there done that.

Mark



 

Jeff  :-)

clannewton

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #36 on: May 14, 2016, 12:57:27 PM »
green jungle nursery (east orlando)

edzone9

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #37 on: May 14, 2016, 01:53:32 PM »
This is s tough one,I like Greens cause it's close to me and Jeff gets me the best trees possible from Zills at a very good price, That been said I enjoy all of the Nurseys that I have Visited in Florida, Excalibur is also on my wish list .

Ed
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strkpr00

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Re: The best FL Tropical Fruit nursery? and why?
« Reply #38 on: May 14, 2016, 08:36:17 PM »
Benders, I can't beat the location, variety of trees and fresh fruit.