Trees that Please Nursery and Tree Farm

Huge nursery right outside of Albuquerque. It was actually a nice drive and not too far from town. I recommend this place over nursery's in Alb. The vibe is very gentle and more comfortable to be around. They had soft music playing in the background, and the staff was not only friendly with us, but with each other; they seemed like one big happy family. We came during the winter holidays after Thanksgiving, so they were only open during the weekend. But if you get a chance and like mini road trips I recommend grabbing some hot chocolate and touring this adorable nursery.

My daughter and I love Trees that Please. My daughter purchased a house on the east mesa above Los Lunas about two years ago. We decided to dedicate most outdoor watering to fruit trees and a year ago, following the advice of a neighbor, we went to Trees that Please and purchased a peach tree. We also purchased a bucket of Earth Magic because, face it, sand doesn't have much in the way of nutrients and biological activity. The peach tree survived my initial overwatering and is doing beautifully this year. This spring we went back and purchased a cherry tree which is also doing great. I got another bucket of Earth Magic and used it on our patch of bermuda grass that I had started from plugs I brought from Gallup. It was obviously what the grass need since the places that had been scraggly and barely growing got a new lease on life. The sales people are great and not only knowledgeable, but honest about the conditions we may experience up here that would hinder fruit production during a given year. We will definitely be returning to Trees that Please and, like our neighbors, will pass the good word.

I have been a serious student or organics since 1977. I must know the 'whys' behind whatever I try. Most of my education has been through ACRES USA (voice of eco-agriculture) and the people they have led me to, some of which were Phd's. I just had the best first year start-up garden of my gardening life (33 yrs) and I owe it to Soil Secrets. Before using their products I did some serious research and liked what I found. I am near Willcox, Az. in saline soil of ph 8.9. Michael Melendrez's products are second to none, his moral integrity and commitment are TOP SHELF. I have never seen products that work like this. I have talked to Michael over half a dozen times in the past year and found him to be caring and always eager to share information. The flavor of my vegetables was outstanding - rave reviews from people I sold to or shared with. An excellent education can be had at Michael's Soil Secrets website. Integrity in today's world is becoming more rare and I don't appreciate people who badmouth dedicated people who are trying to help us all repair Mother Earth.

Posted on June 17, 2010, updated June 18, 2010 Bought a Stella Cherry from Trees that Please in mid-March. After a few weeks the buds at top would not bloom. Took photos down there and found out they had received a bad batch of said trees and asked me to wait a couple of more weeks. This went on for weeks, same story. Finally, the top of the tree died & I cut it off. Took photo's down there yesterday (6-14-2010) and this kid gave me a big run around. Now I need to contact Earth Magic and find their product else where. HIGHLY suggest steering clear of this company, especially if that young blond haired kid is working. jb_tx

As the owner and founder of Trees That Please, after several decades of business and many hundreds of employees, and having grown and sold hundreds of thousands of trees, I can say without any doubt that the problem encountered by LoveTrees2 was not cause by this or any employee. I recall who this particular employee is and he was an exceptional person with a work ethic and standard almost as high as my own. LoveTrees2 was disgruntled because we stopped bending over backwards after providing him with unreasonable and exceptional discounts, but without any guarantee of plant survival or performance, as that is and always has been our policy with any discounted product. This statement of policy is in writing and given to all customers! As one of New Mexico's oldest retail nurseries and one that grows its own trees from seed to finish, and with the largest native tree and fruit tree inventory in the state, we strive to give all customers more then they expect to receive and are successful most of the time. With thousands of customers from throughout the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Region, from as far away as San Antonio, Houston and Salt Lake City there is always the chance that one out of every thousand or more customers will be a problem. In this case, LoveTrees2 was our problem for the past few years. We are grateful for our customers and ask that this one bad seed not be a deterrent from checking out Trees That Please in the Albuquerque metro nursery scene. Thank You Michael Martin Meléndrez

I would just like to say, that I may well have been that employee of Michael's, and I was not very well during my employment with him, and I may have caused many problems. I don't remember specifically who LovesTrees2 was, but I know that I made many errors. This was not the fault of Michael's, and I greatly apologize for any problems I may have caused. However, I will say that working for Michael was one of the best experiences of my career, and that if I could return to work for him, I definitely would.

The products and advise by "Trees That Please" has worked well for us. The "Soil Secrets" products make the wife and I happy with the results. When we switched to Michael's products, our pets stay healthy and without the commercial fertilizer products' effects of burning the pads of their feet. Great lawns & gardens, but unhealthy pets with high vet bills. We feel no skin, eye, nose or mouth irritation when doing hand work in our vegetable & flower gardens when using Soil Secret products. Unlike the commercial fertilizers we have used in the past. The homeopathic healing of the soils is the same as the homeopathic medical pratices that we use for our bodies. Unlike the commercial MD's and commercial fertilizers for soils, that destroy the host but fix only a symptom. It is our opinion, that the products & services offered by Michael Martin Melendrez, are top shelf, if one does not practice selective hearing & memory.

I was shocked to see the negative response on the business of Trees That Please and the owner of Trees That Please - Mr. Michael Martin Melendrez. I've been doing business with him for over 30 years and know many many people who also do business with him. He's a first class person and the most honest person I've ever had the pleasure of working with and for. I’m a soil microbiologist – retired from NASA and a University Professorship and I’ve done contract research for Michael’s business Soil Secrets and I can vouch that Soil Secrets is an exemplary business of cutting edge soil science. I can also tell you that this person called LovesTrees2 who has made these negative comments must have an agenda or is possibly a competitor of Trees That Please and is just trying to hurt a very fine business for their own gain. Michael and his two businesses that LovesTrees2 seems intent on hurting were both honored at our State Capital in Santa Fe during our Legislative session by Governor Richardson as the New Mexico business of the year in 2007. LovesTrees2 claims that Michael’s Soil Secrets business is making snake oil and that other area nurseries are saying the same but the fact is that every independent nursery of quality in Albuquerque and in Santa Fe carry the products of Soil Secrets and all have great praise for them. LovesTrees2 is simply off base with his remarks. In addition to the success in getting Soil Secrets into every nursery of merit in those two cities, the largest and most successful Engineering and Architecture firm in New Mexico specifies Soil Secrets products on every landscape around every building they design and as a result his products are being used across the whole western half of the United States. Professionally Michael is the #1 nurseryman in the Southwest and is the only private sector nurseryman in the Southwest that is a member of the USDA Agricultural Service Woody Plant Germplasm Committee. Trees That Please is also the only Retail Nursery in New Mexico that takes the time to grow its own trees from seed and with a focus on the Chihuahuan Desert Region hardwoods including the many oaks native to the Southwest. That does not sound like a business running from its unhappy customers. LovesTrees2 also complained about Michael being inconsistent about his guarantee on trees and that is a ridiculous claim. He has never wavered on his belief that the customer needs to be responsible for taking care of their trees once it departs Trees That Please since TTP cannot do it for them. The only exception that Michael ever makes to that rule is when the customer agrees to certain terms including, the tree cannot be on sale or discounted for any reason, TTP must plant the tree, Soil Secrets must be purchased and used by the customer on the tree, and the customer must agree to water and take proper care of the tree. I’ve heard Michael say more than once to clients, “if I grow 1000 trees of a given species and lot number and you take one home and it dies under your care, why should Trees That Please be responsible when the other 999 trees still at our farm are alive and well?” Michael will then say, “I collected the seed from wild trees, I germinated that seed, grew the tree for 5 to 10 years and then sell it to you. You better take care of my tree because I have visitation rights on it!” That is Michael’s guarantee, that the tree was raised with his passion and love and is healthy and true to botanical name. If you want a warrantee for one year or more, go buy your tree from a Discount Box Store and you will get what you deserve! Finally, in my opinion this LovesTrees2 person has a hidden agenda, is very very unethical and truly is just an evil person for posting such an ugly and unfair remark. I'm sure the reward awaits at the end! Dr. Penny Jenson, Ph.D., Microbiology (retired)

Trees That Please (TTP) sold me 16 six-to-seven foot Austrian Pines that were scraggly, turkey-necked, bent, and that refused to grow. The cost was $1850.00 plus $50.00 per tree (another $800.00) to have them planted by the employees of TTP so that the full guarantee would be in effect. I complained about them initially on planting and every year thereafter. I was told they would "fill-in" and look good in a few years. After the third year I complained again to the TTP nursery manager. I was told she would check and get back to me. She never did. Several months later I called again to complain that I was still so unhappy with the trees that I planned to pull them out. I was told that there was nothing that could be done. I called the owner of TTP, Michael Melendrez, and complained. He lied about the circumstances of the purchase, about the time-line of my complaints and about the TTP guarantee on my trees. I told him I did not appreciate being called a liar -- and Michael Melendrez hung up on me in mid-sentence. He has not called me back or made any response to my complaints. The trees were so awful that I dug them all up, threw/gave them away, and bought replacement pines from another nursery. These new trees are full and beautiful and doing well--- planted in the same soil in the same location on my property. Since then, in talking to present and former employees of Michael Melendrez and Trees That Please, I have found that as employees they avoided dealing with Michael Melendrez whenever possible, and that he had his employees lie to customers about the trees that TTP sold. My experience was not uncommon. Nurserymen in the area were very familiar with TTP and Michael Melendrez, referring to his "soil secrets" products as "snake oil" and referring to him as "the mad scientist." I spent thousands of dollars over a three year period on his "soil secrets" products ("Premium Earth Magic" and "Protein Crumbles" to name two of his products) to "improve" my soil. There were no visible results either in improved plant growth or in soil structure. Nurseries in my area had tried his "soil secrets" products in the past with no results either. Michael is a great salesman without a good product. He is deceptive and changes his guarantees (and his products) yearly. He is succesful primarily by constantly expanding the edges of his sales region as the old customers either run afoul of him, his temper, and his changing "stories"; or they find that his products do not perform as guaranteed--and that there actually is no guarantee. Over the three years I dealt with Michael Melendrez and Trees that Please I spent over $20,000.00. I had some good experiences with TTP and I do not wish any ill to anyone--but I wish I had been able to read someone's cautionary post somewhere, and have done my homework a little better. If you do business with Michael Melendrez and Trees That Please make sure you've researched everything carefully and understand what you're getting into.

As the owner of Trees That Please and a Managing Member of Soil Secrets LLC, I'd like to first thank Dr. Jenson for her kind remarks about me personally and my life's work growing trees and fixing soil. Unfortunately, the negative remark made on this site was not bogus or from a competitor, as it was indeed from a client of our business. So I’ll now need to defend the decade’s long honor and reputation of Trees That Please because of one person who we had a bad experience with.

First I will say that since this person used my name in his disparaging remark, I on the other hand will not stoop to such a low and unethical level and give his name.

This individual did indeed purchase some trees from our business, but he did so with a huge discount on the items which I allowed as a favor since he was the family doctor of one of my employees. We priced the trees at well below wholesale value much less a true retail price. On an average 6 foot tree this person saved about $72 below what these trees were being wholesaled for! These were trees we were growing for several Albuquerque contractors and retail nurseries and we grew several thousand of this particular lot number. The trees were grown from seed and were about six to seven years of age by the time the good doctor asked for a favor. Since the trees were sold at a discount, no warranty other than they were grown by us and were true to species name is ever made, as that has been my rule on any product discounted for any reason. Since that rule never changes, this client and all clients are given a handout explaining the policy along with how to plant and care for their new tree. On multiple occasions, my employee who was also his patient was called by the doctor to make a special trip at no compensation to look at his trees and provide advice and council. His home is about 8 miles from our business. When he was not satisfied at having a mere employee come to his beckon call, he requested the owner – that’s me to make a special effort to service him. Again no compensation was ever offered for this special treatment. On each visit by me or my employee he was told to not water the trees so much since his soil is a heavy clay and the poor drainage was damaging his trees. Austrian Pines – Pinus nigra do not like wet roots! He had some losses and wanted free replacement trees which we made the mistake of providing. Give an inch and some will take a mile! But we did explain that we were making an exception and to please refer back to our warranty paper since these trees were sold at discount. Each time he said he was not aware of this policy and it was never clear to him, regardless of us giving him the paper initially and repeatedly with each visit. I personally made several visits to his property and each time had the paper at the ready to give him.

I did indeed hang up on this person at it was apparent he was intent on using us when he asked me to purchase the trees back and to dig them at my expense. He wanted perfectly shaped and identical pine trees which of course genetic diversity will never provide when trees are not cloned but rather are grown from seed. The final straw was when he called my personal cell number on a weekend while I was out of town visiting and having lunch with my elderly father. When I explained to him that I’d wanted to call him back during business hours, that was not good enough for him and he wanted to continue debating the fact that he was not clear as to my warranty. At this point I told him goodbye and I hung up! On Monday morning I instructed my staff to not let this person ever come back into my business and if he did and refused to leave on his own, call the police. Needless to say my staff was ecstatic because they were all sick and tired of dealing with him. And I personally was tired of his abuse!

About Trees That Please: Trees That Please grows trees native to New Mexico's high desert region and does so from seed. This is unique for a retail nursery in the Southwest! We are dedicated to using an organic only program and therefore chemicals that fail to meet the USDA NOP benchmark for organic approval are not sold in our nursery. There are likely over 1 million trees in landscapes all over New Mexico, the Southwest and the Rocky Mountain Region that have been propagated and grown by Trees That Please over the past several decades. Soil Secrets LLC is a company that evolved from the research and development done by Michael Martin Meléndrez -founder and owner of Trees That Please, Dr. Michael Karr - Soil Scientist, along with other professional staff members of Michael's business. Today, Soil Secrets is recognized across North America and into many other countries for offering soil amendments and biological soil inoculum products that meet the highest efficacy standards in the industry and has been awarded recognition for this achievement by several institutions of science. Today the products of Soil Secrets can be purchased across the continent and can be viewed at http://www.soilsecrets.com. Michael is often in demand as a speaker at conference's put on by the USDA, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Oak Society, the Native Plant Societies of the west, the United States Green Building Council's State Chapters and many more organizations. Along with Trees That Please and Soil Secrets, Michael has developed over the past 22 years the Arboretum Tomé, a botanical garden with one of the largest species collections of the genus of oaks – the Quercus, in the Untied States. The arboretum has thousands of trees with many native to the Chihuahuan Desert Region of the Southwest, along with many rare, endangered and very exotic species from all over the world. Each year the Arboretum Tomé is visited by plant and soil scientists from all over the world, many to work with Michael and some to see his tree collection. The arboretum is Trees That Please and Soil Secrets walking the walk and talking the talk.