Denise, I would go to the FedEx website to track your package. I had placed an order with Harris a couple weeks ago and they were supposed to ship that following Monday and the expected delivery date was for Thursday. I made sure I was home for the delivery and FedEx never showed up. I tracked my package and found out it was still in Florida. I received the tree on Saturday. The new growth at the top (stems) was wilted and the new leaves had fallen off exposing burnt tips. I do hope you receive a lovely tree in good shape upon arrival.

Ps: The tree is potted up and doing well.

Holy mackerel Mike- that just sounds like a surreal kind of a day! You must have been looking over your shoulder when you got out of bed this morning. Bless your heart. Can you direct me to the thread that tells the story about your sweet little bird? I didn't hear about that and hate to ask you to write it again. You have a heart of gold.

Nancy

jinnylea, what you described sounds exactly what I am experiencing. I have been tracking the order. It just shows that a label was made and expected delivery was by the end of the day on 8/8. I waited all day for my order. In fact there were two trucks in my neighborhood around 9 am which is why I am pretty ticked off. After leaving a message for Ruth, I went back to my tracking number and it shows that the order was in Tampa around 4:30 pm today. The label was made on Monday! FedEx messed up the tracking on a previous order from FWG. It showed it went to Albuquerque, NM, and then back to CA. The tree showed up when it was suppose to so I really don't know what to believe with the information FedEx puts on their tracking system.

I have just skimmed this thread, I have to reread it later.

Denise, you are looking for var.meyer?

First, I recall reading that it doesn't exist, but I'm not sure. The idea being that it is actually var eureka.

However, I did see that Greenleaf supplied plant at Pike nursery this year. They said they are OOS for all citrus this year, but I did see some last winter with the houseplants.

What does OOS mean?

out of stock

Thank you

Mike, what a day!! That’s just crazy!! Lol

Hey Mike - finally got chance to come back to this thread. I had to plant a butterfly bush in a container in a far corner behind the citrus yesterday so had to move a recovering Kishu and the Shiranui (and discovered that the Shiranui is starting another bloom/growth cycle) and then do some yoga stretches to get back in the corner and get the shrub in. Am feeling it today 'cause I ain't no chippy. lol But I still had to go back out and deep water today since it's been 90s the past week and just came in from watering the whole patio garden because like you, our rain has been nickel and dime amounts where maybe 30 miles or so north and west, they have had floods. Also your link to that Amazon Tango had a pic with similar curled under leaves so seems like it is a Tango thing. It certainly hasn't been cold here. The lows have been no lower than the 60s the past couple months. Plus sorry to hear about your crazy day. Sometimes as they say, "when it rains, it pours"! :-P

Nancy - good to know we are were not alone with the Tangos! LOL It will be interesting to see how your new one responds. I really need to FE them all at this point (had to use some HO on the Tango and Eureka to knock out the scale and I think the ants that were farming them are finally gone now). It's been a pain to dodge the heat and the pop-up showers to get the right time to spray.

Denise - I did my order via Pay Pal so that might have a different time frame unless I make some move to change what I want to do with the order (I remember some discussion of that in Amy's thread).

Plus (adding jinnylea) - I hate Fedex too - and as a note, when I bought my Shiranui from Harris, I had received 2 emails from Fedex with different tracking numbers (both referencing Ruth). However feeding either number into their tracking page, I found nothing was moving. Finally about a week later I got an email directly from Harris saying that the tree had shipped and it included one of the earlier tracking numbers which I confirmed was the one that was actually used to ship. So am thinking there may be some label issues going on with Harris too. And when I did receive the tree, Fedex left it at the wrong house (a couple doors down). When I saw the status change to "delivered" and went out to bring the box in, I was frantic when it wasn't at my door. I finally found where they left it and was barely able to snag it and get back inside before a storm hit, because otherwise the box would have been soaked. That's why I paid the extra that FW offered for shipping via USPS priority mail, even though I don't know why theirs is more expensive than others using USPS. OGW uses priority mail for citrus too at half the cost. I have had good luck with USPS getting my trees here intact. The poor mail lady is always able to lift them off her truck okay. lol

I left a message yesterday with Ruth regarding my tree because I thought the order went missing. The tracking hadn't moved in 3 days since the label was created. Well, Ruth has not yet communicated either by email nor return phone call about what the heck is going on with my order. I am not a happy camper and should have known better than to do business with them again. This is not the first time I have had disappointing customer service from Harris Nursery. I went into my account with Harris and it states: "Please contact us if you have any questions." Well, I did and there has been no reply whatsoever.

PacNorWreck, I guess Harris Nursery doesn't want repeat business nor referrals because that's what is going to happen when enough people get ticked off. That 1-5% is still money coming in keeping their business afloat. With the citrus industry floundering in FL because of HLB, the hobby growers should be just as important.

Denise,

Really sorry about your tree! So frustrating. When I've had a problem with Fedex it almost always seems to be that sender makes out the airbill online and then doesn't drop off to Fedex. Hate to cast aspersions on Harris because I've had only great shipping experiences with them in. The tree must be as frustrated getting to you as you are to welcome it :-( Hope that Friday you hear from Ruth.

Back to my FWG shipment and better news...the LeeXNova is at my local post office along with the replacement avocado tree from FWG. The two trees were only on the road since Tuesday so look forward some good lookin' plants. And the bad but expected news....the avocado that prompted this thread and was traveling for 8 days, is sad today. Lost about 2/3 of it's leaves. :-(

Nancy I am glad you got your LeeXNova tree delivered. I inquired about mine yesterday and a miracle happened. I received a reply within 2-3 hours from somebody named Carrie. I wonder if she is a new additon or a replacement for the previous CS rep? Anyway, my mandarin will be shipped next week. So kudos for the changes in CS at FWG in improving their response time to emails. This is not the first one I have sent and gotten a prompt response (same day).

Denise - thanks for the heads-up on that. I checked and confirmed that my Pay Pal was just charged yesterday (Thursday, 8/9 after ordering 8/6 and with an email of a hold on 8/7 ) so am thinking the same for mine - will be shipped next week (I think they say they ship on Mondays or Tuesdays).

Just a heads up, Ashley, customer service rep, no longer works at Four Winds Growers. A new girl is there named Carrie and she is in charge of the website, orders and emails. She seems to be really sweet and friendly. Go FWG.

And speaking of Carrie, I did get an email from her this afternoon (via their customer service account) that said my order would be shipping Monday and she indicated that I'll get another email at that time with the tracking number. Good to see positive changes at the company!

nulesm My variegated minneola has no white on any of the leaves. I am so disappointed because I expected my tree to look like yours and I think it's on Swingle root stock.

Hello Denise Becker my tree has multiple colors green , light green , a little white but more yellow. My tree is on obo rootstock which is supposed to be fairly aggressive. I read somewhere and I can't remember right now that the younger the tree the more green it will have as it ages it will really take on the variegated colors so I would give it a bit more time . I did notice on a branch right above the graft which is probably the first branch this tree produced is mostly green with very little variegation and looks all most grapefruit I will take a pic for you tomorrow . The newest growth is extremely variegated .

Brian

My problem is do I get another one like the broken one or ask for a refund. A new one will be shipped out next week. I need to let Ruth know on Monday before one is sent out. nulesm, can you PM me your cell phone number and I will send you a picture of my tree? I am electronically challenged and I do not have a data plan with my cell phone. I just use it for texting and talking.

Hello Denise Becker here is a pic from the other day huge difference between the top of the tree and that lower branch . Are your tree's leaves like that bottom branch ?

Brian

Would you consider PMing me with your cell phone? I would like to send you a photo. I am really getting frustrated with this situation.

Actually Kelley Lyons posted up some photos for me on my thread.

Here are the photos:

Thank you again Kelley! You are a good friend.

Denise - Brian (nulesm) is in Canada so there might be some extra international charges involved in texting photos to him.

Also yesterday, my sister and I took a trip to an international supermarket not too far away and after all the talk of minneolas, I saw some regular ones there (have never seen any in my local supermarket) and ended up buying a couple just to see what the fuss was about! lol The sticker lists them as "Peru minneola".

Jenny, so what did you think about the flavor? You are so lucky to be able to go to a place like that. I wish I could. I was in heaven when I just walked through an orange grove a few years back. I literally walked through a huge one by myself and just sat there watching a thunderstorm roll in. It was better than going to Disney World when I was there. Yeah, it is finally pouring here today and kind of chilly after days of heat wave and no rain. I measured 1/4 after this entire summer and now I am loosing my grape vines. Hopefully I will get more than 1/4 inch today and some of the rain will actually sink deeper to the root zone of ll my plants. My poor citrus could use something other than tap water too. Hope you are feeling better. Yeah, that was quite a day. I am glad that one is behind me. Would of believe today is my first cook out and of course it's rained out.lol Just my luck! I should have more of them so the rain Gods can give us more gold. NO thunder though. I think them days are past( By teh way, let me know how that butterfly bush does. I know they are hard to keep alive if no given enough moisture to prepare for the long winter. I lost about ten of them last winter(

All this talk of root stock, I wish I had known all of this before I bought all my trees. Now I am wondering if the reason why certain trees do so poorly of just croak could have something to do with the wrong root stock not be adaptable for potted use so far north? I will be more attentive to root stock as I but my future trees if I should give in again.

Jenny - Thanks for the heads up about Brian in Canada. If he is close to the border, there shouldn't be an issue. Airwaves don't recognize them. Kelley was kind enough to post pictures for me so I am sure he will find them somewhere. lol.

I love minneolas aka Honeybells. QVC really rakes in the money when they hawk them. They are out of season here in the US. I paid $.69 each when they were in season and to buy the imports today, the price is $.99. I don't usually purchase imported fruit unless there is a specific reason for doing so, like wanting seeds. lol.

Mike - I haven't tried them yet. Was saving for the next day or so. lol I am glad for the rain at the moment - especially for that butterfly bush. Whenever I plant new perennials or shrubs, I try to keep them watered daily (if no rain) at least for the first week and then make sure they get the extra water over the next few months as they settle in. I had planted some bareroot astilbes a couple weeks ago that one of my sisters had gotten me (Costco plants) and those have all popped up foliage with the added rain. I just have to watch my cherry tomatoes so I don't get any splits and bursting from the excess water (already saw 2 starting). lol

Denise - I was able to get the fruit for $1.49/lb so the 2 came out to $1.68 (84 cents a piece). It was sortof a what the heck purchase. I just thought the fruit was cool looking (they do look like bells) and also because my one little Shiranui fruit has that same look. And I did see Kelley's post of pics in the other thread and here in this one and I did finally realize that they were of your poor tree! Hope you have better luck for the replacement!!!!

Nancy I had to send an email to FWG about something and inquired about a Daisy SL on your behalf. Carrie, the new CS rep and who is married to Aaron Dillion, said that Aarron was out of town until next week and she will forward the inquiry to him. The purpose of my email was to see what other varieties they had which were not listed on the website. Who knows what's sitting in the "back 40" of their property? I know they moved from a different location, but may get lucky that some of their trees came with them.

I do know that last winter Four Winds had the Daisy SL at one of their growing sites but it was not listed on line for mail order. I saw it listed on the Four Winds growing site availability list. That website list disappeared and I can no longer find it. They probably eliminated it when they moved everything to the one remaining growing site.

I had that link too, now I wish I had printed it out. I thought once something was up on the internet, it was there forever.

Denise,

That was so thoughtful of you to ask! Thank you. And to you to Jenny. I also asked FWG too about a year ago and the reply was something was like, 'yes, but not available right now'. As I've mentioned before, last winter FWG sent me a variegated calamondin as a peace offering for a few bad trees they sent me. It was incredibly nice but if it had been a Daisy SL I'd have driven the 1100 miles down there to thank them! Since I became a member of this forum have always had the feeling that everyone's looking out for everyone else. Denise your action makes me feel it doubly so. Thanks :-)

I just found out that Kendra no longer works at Four Winds either. I tried to send her an email in regards to the Daisy SL because last fall she helped me get a few replacement trees that were not listed on their website as being available and she helped to hunt one down at the other growing site. Sorry, Nancy. I wanted to help you out also.. I was interested in this variety and one of the golds last year but decided I have a lot of mandarins that are probably close in flavor to them. Only so much room. Lol

I have a feeling we will see even a lot more positive changes with FW. Back the way they used to be.

Denise, I hope you get a positive reply back from Carrie. I know from looking at the previous growing list that they had a number of citrus varieties available, (probably for their wholesale customers,) that are not available on their mail order website. A few were from the 'Gold' collection as well.

Nancy, the previous CS rep would not go out of her way to do anything for the customers. I inquired about when a particular variety would come back into inventory. The reply was that she didn't know. Umm, aren't you supposed to say, "I don't know, but I will look into it and get back to you"? Carrie is definitely an improvement from the few emails I have received from her.

Jenny- thanks so much. Really appreciate. If I ever get one it'll be because of the help I get here. Thanks again.

jinnylea, I am absolutely shocked that Kendra was let go. She was a production manager and a good one imo. I guess when they closed one of the locations, many of the staff members were let go. I feel bad for Kendra. I really liked her.

OK. Even MORE nice words about FWG. Jeez Louise, did I get a couple more beauties today. Sound like a commercial for them but so impressed. This is the Yosemite Gold on left (premium), and Tango on right (entry) that arrived today. Jenny, no crinkly leaves on this Tango either. Premium looks premium premium.

Congratulations Nancy! They look fantastic!

I am suppose to get a shipment on Friday from FWG. In my excitement with the Harris tree, I totally forgot I was not going to be around and had it shipped. I made arrangements to have it brought in from the heat though as I won't be here when it's delivered. Tomorrow is D-Day for my daughter to move to NC. I am pretty nervous about the long drive up there because she has to be there on Friday to move into her first and new apartment, and on the way back I am driving alone 8 hours home by myself. That's a first for me too.

Nancy, I don't think I have ever seen a fuller premium than what you received. Hmm. Maybe there are changes out in the growing grounds as well other than office personnel.

Denise, that's what I thought about this premium. It just kept coming out of the box. Nice thick trunk too.

Nancy, beautiful trees from FWG..I received an email from Lexa Dillon and she said the Daisy SL is currently not in production at this time. Sorry.

Denise, I was surprised to hear Kendra was let go also, she was a valuable asset to the company. Have a safe, and fun trip to NC.

Mike - I finally tried the minneola (posted about it in another thread) and here is what I wrote in the other thread -

And it's funny you guys mentioning the minneola - well I had posted
in another thread that I had been to an international store this past
week and found some for sale (and bought 2). I finally tried one the
day before yesterday and like a baby, I needed a big bib! LOL OMG,
after I peeled it (it has the thicker rind that I guess comes from its
pomelo heritage), I pulled off a slice, took a bite, and must have had a
half a glass of juice all down the front of me. LOL

It had no seeds and also had an interesting "floral" after-taste to
it. But no doubt about it, it was juice juice juice. Bite squirt slurp
bite squirt slurp. Thank goodness for paper towels (napkins wouldn't
have been enough). LOL

Nancy - those trees look great! Mine were supposed to ship Monday (the label was created Sunday and I got an email from FW that the trees would ship Monday) but they ended up shipping Tuesday. However since I did the 2-day priority mail option, they are due for delivery today (status is "Out for Deliver" and haven't come yet so they are rolling around in one of those little postal trucks...lol). I do live like 2 blocks from the post office but because of that, sometimes we get our mail last.

Denise - wish your daughter good luck for the coming semester! Move-in time is always hectic but I think she will be excited once she gets settled in and you will be relived when it's over... but you know you will miss your baby! :-D You can put some good music on in the car and just roll with the flow! The time for the drive will go by faster.

Nancy, my entry level LeexNova arrived from FWG. It looks a bit stressed, hopefully it will bounce back. I hope you got a nice sized one. I absolutely hate getting entry level trees because they are so small and the wait for fruit is an additional 3 years.

Oh no Denise. Mine was really nice. Beautiful even. You are not having the best of luck lately! So sorry. I like entry because I really love nurturing from their youthful stage. When they get to be premium size then I know it was because of my efforts. Also because I grow indoors I have some size limitations so figure better to enjoy them till I have to start trimming the tops aggressively. Bought seven FWGs trees since January and they've all been pretty darn as perfect as a tree can be.

BTW, I talked to Hope at Clausen Nursery about Daisy SL, and while she had a Daisy with seeds, they are California quarantined. Funny, she said to contact FWG. Know that you already checked for me but they reiterated no Daisy SL. I know someone has to have them. I've checked everywhere possible for them though. Menlo Growers has them but 15 gal the smallest. Won't give up but think if I ever find it'll be the last citrus I buy barring a major die off.

Nancy, hopefully Aaron Dillon will get back to me about my inquiry about which varieties they put out to pasture and can resurrect. I know they moved twice from their original location so it will be interesting to see if they moved the mother trees with them.

All the nurseries I found that carried the DaisySL were located in CA. If you were in the area of any retail nurseries that carried them, you could at least make a trip to look at them. If you were down there during harvest time, maybe you could bump one fruit off. Shhh! You didn't hear that from me. lol. I don't know who else you contacted, but have you tried Stan McKenzie? He has connections. I will inquire on your behalf at the SE citrus expo if I go. Somebody there has to have one. Three people come to mind about that variety: Stan McKenzie, Robert Millet and Hershel Boyd.

Nancy petuniafish, I received a response from Aaron Dillion (FWG) about the DaisySL and here is what he said:

"In terms of Daisy SL, that is a patented variety so we would have to pay a fee to get the license to propagate it. The license cost $500 and there is a $2 per tree fee on each tree we sell. At this time we aren't really thinking about adding Daisy SL to our collection because we really don't have that much demand for it. The fruit is excel;lent but it really only does well in the desert. My understanding is that it does best in hot dry climates and doesn't produce that well outside of those climates."

So I guess that's why it was developed in Thermal CA- does great there and Inland Empire CA but not so much other places. Probably perfect for my basement greenhouse. Oh well. Have to develop a hankering for something else. Thanks for your help on this Denise. BTW, thanks for the info about US Citrus- fantastic! And free shipping too, unbelievable.