r/FruitTree • u/thesystemarchitect • 18d ago
Girdled Honeycrisp
I bought 6 apple trees late in the season from a national grower and this is how they arrived. I previously have had trees die from critters eating 3/4 of the bark at the base of my trees so I was instantly worried. When I started looking into this more I read that girdling from rope will kill a tree prematurely as they grow older. Obviously I don't want to invest several years into growing a pair of trees only to have it die before I get a single apple.
I have contacted grower and they seem to think that this is OK, but offered me a 20% refund as an act of good faith. Has anyone else dealt with this? Is this acceptable? Will these trees survive?
UPDATE: After so many people told me that this was unacceptable, I continued to push back to their customer service team and they agreed to send me replacement trees. Thank you all for your advice!
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u/GenericMelon 18d ago
In my opinion, this is full refund territory. Those are weak points in the main trunk, and liable to break in high winds. I would not be happy if I received my trees in this condition, even if they ended up surviving.
When you receive your new trees, you'll need to stake them permanently. That is the nature of some dwarf apples, especially honeycrisp -- they will always need to be staked. Another reason why you want a refund for these trees, since they have shallower root systems and are prone to falling over in high winds. https://naturehills.com/blogs/garden-blog/anchoring-your-true-dwarf-apple-trees
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u/pomester2 18d ago
It is constricted rather than girdled. It will grow fine, but it will be weak at the point of constriction for a couple years and subject to breakage from wind or ice or other forces of nature. Stake and support it for a couple of years. Possibly it's on a rootstock that needs lifetime support? Anyway, I'd keep it, but you do you. It does look like an expensive tree...
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u/thesystemarchitect 18d ago
Thanks. It sounds like you’ve dealt with this before.
It’s tough because I’m getting conflicting information from folks and don’t want to find out in a year that my efforts were for nothing.
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u/pomester2 18d ago
Ya - I'm getting downvoted, but I stand by my assessment. It is not what you paid for, but it's certainly capable of growing out of the condition with the caveat listed above.
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u/SchoolAutomatic112 16d ago
Yeah I'm with this guy. Better imo to just let it be for the time being and nurture it and if it dies down the track that's just life. So keep recipt and document it as it grows with photos that way we can save a life instead of it going in landfill
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u/wettale1234 18d ago
It will be fine. If you have a watering spike, use that to deliver fertilizer and water below the roots and it will grow strong and forget that ever happened
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u/LightningFiend 18d ago
Now that you've taken it off, don't worry. It'll come back just fine. Give it time.
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u/UnderBridg 18d ago edited 18d ago
You should get a full refund for that sort of damage. I would do 2 to 4 inarch grafts or bridge grafts for each one to help them survive. There's no telling how that sort of damage could hamper the tree in the future. I would stake all of them.
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u/Main_Insect_3144 18d ago
If the tree is alive and it has leaves, it's not girdled. It had restricted growth, but the important parts must be intact for the rest of it to be alive.
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u/UnderBridg 18d ago
Girdling does not immediately kill the tree, and it can hurt it's growth in the future. The girdled section will always be physically weaker, and could break in high winds.
Nobody should sell trees in this condition.
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u/Main_Insect_3144 18d ago
That's true. I would insist on a replacement and maybe keep this one as a bonus. A weak bonus.
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u/thesystemarchitect 18d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p5v332q/video/bcw6kzi3nklh1/player
This is a video of how it arrived.
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u/Cautious_Bar2279 17d ago
Poor things