FAQs

WHEN WILL I RECEIVE MY ORDER?

Your order will ship in the springtime during April and May. The shipping window is further organized based on a combination of factors such as the order of which the order was placed, geographic location as well as any requests we may have received that indicate your preference to receive your order sooner or later during our springtime shipping window.

If you have a shipping date request, contact us before March 31st to make arrangements.

When your order is fulfilled, you'll receive an email at the address you used when you placed your order. 

For select items such as some custom grown orders, they may be able to be picked up from select locations. Please arrange your pickup date with us. 

 

WHAT IF I NEED TO CHANGE THE DELIVERY ADDRESS?

If the order has not yet been fulfilled, please contact us immediately via email (trees@forestag.com)

 

If the order has been fulfilled, you'll need to contact the Carrier directly. Once it has left our location, we are not able to make changes. 

 

WHAT DO I DO AFTER I RECEIVE MY PLANTS?

Please check out our unboxing video.

1. inspect the box for serious damage.

2. open the box(es). prop the plants up. open a bag and inspect the roots to make sure they are moist.

3. sprinkle the roots with water, if needed. keep the roots moist, but not soaking wet!  

4. plant right away. if you cannot plant right away, look at the next section to see various options on what to do. 

 

WHAT DO I DO IF I CANNOT TRANSPLANT MY SEEDLINGS RIGHT AWAY?

Please check out our unboxing video.

 

The most important part is to keep the area around the roots moist. NOT soaking, but damp enough so the fine root hairs will not dry out. Next, keep the plants cool, but not in freezing temperatures. The easiest ways to accomplish this are to prop the plants up in a barn, cool basement, garage. Keep them together as bundles for easier handling. You can elect to keep them in the bags they arrived in or bury the roots in moist in damp sand, wood shavings, woodchips, soil, peat, or potting mix. If the plant order is small enough, you can manage this by storing your seedlings in a refrigerator. This can extend your time to plant them for 1-2 weeks. 

Another method for extending the period between your plants arriving and transplanting is "heeling", or burying the roots of your bundles in a trench. 

 

 

HOW DO I ESTABLISH MY NUT TREES?

Young nut trees require extra care during and immediately after planting, especially for trees with a taproot (Walnut, Hickory, Butternut, Buartnut). Effective weed control helps reserve moisture for your crop trees. Organic mulch can be helpful for some weed control, retaining moisture and reducing evaporation from the soil surface.

Water approximately 1 gallon of water per plant once per week while they are getting established. This translates to approximately 1" of rainfall/week. Also, please utilize common sense. The watering guidelines do not account for compacted soils, soils that drain quickly, and temperature, just to name a few factors. If the leaves of your plants are wilting AND the soil is dry, that indicates that they could use a watering. If the ground is saturated and the leaves are wilting/plants look otherwise unhealthy, they may be getting overwatered. 

Overall, be sure that you can provide water to the trees during their first growing season, keeping the soil surrounding them “uniformly moist, constantly.”  

 

 

HOW DO I CHOOSE A SITE FOR MY NUT TREES?

Nut trees grow very fast in rich soil. Soils with some clay that are not constantly wet are good for most nut trees. They can tolerate wetter soils than fruit trees but will drown if their roots are sitting in water all year round.

Hybrid Hazelnuts and Korean Stone Pine do not have taproots and, like fruit trees, favor lighter, well-drained soils, though will grow in heavier soils with care in the earlier years.

For more suggestions, feel free to Contact Us. 

 

WHAT FORM OF TREE PROTECTION SHOULD I USE?

Ask 10 people and receive 10 different answers! In most cases, you will find that a combination of approaches will work best for deterring pests that affect your area, similarly to how a more complex password is a greater deterrent from computer hackers. We approach tree protection by handling the conditions across a number of variables by running through some of the things to consider below. 

Some things to consider:

What pests are of your concern? (deer, voles, moles, mice, birds, rabbits, raccoons, armadillos, japanese beetles...etc) A tall deer fence will take care of deer, but will not help with a mole issue. Learning the patterns of behavior of each pest informs the approach. 

What kinds of trees or shrubs are you looking to protect? 

Hazelnuts: Most common issue is rabbits nibbling young stems. If using tree tubes for hazelnut seedlings, they should not exceed 24" and should be removed no later than two years to allow them to fill out, unless otherwise noted. Wire cages are also a reliable choice, and generally are more labor intensive to install. Hazelnuts are not preferred deer browse, and we personally do not regularly apply tree tubes or tree guards on mass plantings of hazelnuts. 

Chestnuts: Most common issue is deer browse. If using tree tubes for Chestnut seedlings, they should be 5' if there is no other form of deer deterrent. Wire caging that meets the 5' heigh requirement works too, but may be cost-prohibitive. 

Fruit trees: Most common issue is deer browse, and girdling. 4-5' tree tubes or wire cages. 

General guidelines:

 

To deal with girdling from rabbits or rodents, mow closely to the trees to reduce grasses. Apply woodchips. Add a tree guard or mesh cage.

To deal with deer, consider tall tree tubes 5' around each tree and/or a tall deer fence. Cost/benefit of tree protection per number of trees that will realistically be impacted. Sturdy tree guards can last several years and can sometimes be re-used.

To discourage deer AND rabbits, homemade egg repellents applied to the trunks, stems and foliage can work for a while, but may require more frequent applications. 

Tree spirals help deter girdling. Wire caging also helps and offers a more long-lasting solution. 

Here is a video by Stefan Sobkowiak of the Permaculture Orchard for ways he handles pests to give you more ideas. 

 

 

DO I NEED TO PAY STATE TAXES? 

Wisconsin and Illinois require that you pay state taxes for online purchases. 

If you're a nonprofit or a business that wishes to receive a tax exemption from your purchase, please fill out the appropriate form. 

Information in this section is subject to frequent updates, so be sure to check the tax laws for your state.

Here's the one for Wisconsin:

 

https://www.revenue.wi.gov/Pages/SalesAndUse/ExemptionCertificate.aspx

 

 CAN I GET A REFUND? 

All sales are final. Requests for order changes and cancelations placed on or before March 1 can be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

 

QUESTION NOT YET ANSWERED? CONTACT US