Every plant, seed lot and bundle of scionwood leaves the nursery correctly labeled and true to name. That is the one guarantee we make, and we stand behind it. If your tree fruits and it is not the cultivar on the label, we replace it with the correct cultivar.
We do not guarantee survival, establishment, graft take or performance in your conditions. Every packet lists its lot and harvest year. See our refund policy for the full terms.
How to make a claim
- Send us a message through the contact page with your order number and the cultivar name. We reply by email.
- Reply to our email with the photos below. Clear, evenly lit photos in daylight against a plain background settle most claims in a single exchange.
Photos that help
- Several fruits, whole, beside a ruler or coin for scale
- One fruit cut in half across its middle, and one cut from stem to base
- A mature leaf, top and underside
- The whole tree, and the graft union close up
- The original label, if you still have it
Identifying a cultivar from its fruit usually needs a full crop in its normal season, so the first fruit a young tree sets may not be typical. If you are unsure, send photos anyway and we will tell you what we see.
How cultivar identity is established
Pomologists identify an apple or pear cultivar by comparing its fruit, leaves and growth with a documented reference: fruit shape and size, skin color and russet, the stem cavity and the eye, the flesh and the core, and the season of ripening. The national germplasm collections now add DNA fingerprinting; the USDA apple collection at Geneva, New York, and the pear collection at Corvallis, Oregon, use genetic markers to confirm the identity of the trees they hold and to sort out synonyms and mislabeled trees.
For a home grower, clear photographs of typical fruit in its normal season remain the practical test, which is why we ask for the photographs above. A young tree’s first fruit is often smaller, paler or oddly shaped, and a stressed tree’s fruit can be atypical in any year.
Every product page also carries a confidence label for its origin record; how we grade our records explains them.