Comments regarding Four Winds Growers

February 26-2019 I purchased two Oroblanco Grapefruit premium one tree was way smaller it has ben bump up 5"pot to 10x9.5 no roots fresh bump up to 10x9.5 pot 24"tall one premium tree 34" tall ok I WILL NOT BUY FROM THEM AGAIN

Horrible customer service. One tree was way smaller than what was advertised and this is the customer service respond:

"We apologize for the difference in sizes. Right now our meyer lemons are on the smaller side."

The other tree died in less than two months and this is the customer service respond:

"Unfortunately this does not fall under our replacement trees. We will replace any tree that has been damaged in transit as long as we are notified as soon as the tree is received. "

I purchased two kumquats only one survived. The Nagami Kumquat had black spot on the trunk of tree just below the graft. I thought it had bug damage so I sprayed it with dormant oil. About a month later the tree died from the graft upwards. I wrote the Four Wind Nursery and I showed pictures of the dead tree. I received an email saying that it was planted improperly and they would not give me a replacement plant. But the Indio Manderinquat was planted same way and is still growing. I will not be doing business with Four Winds Growers again.

I ordered a three year old Organic Kieffer Lime tree on May 1, 2014. They thought it was best to wait and have it shipped on May 12 because I live in Michigan. I agreed. When the tree arrived I noticed many of the leaves had large insect holes. I took a closer look but found no large insects but did notice "white webbing". I took pictures and send them in an email to Four Winds Growers. I decided to call because I did not hear back from them and was concerned about something being brought into my home that could infect my other plants. They said their internet was down. They told me that the large holes were from katydid bugs and the tree should be OK. I told them about the white webbing and they said those were made by a small white moth and should have been cut off before the tree left. They suggesed a product and I told them I had read their booklet and the letter that they sent. I told them that I had already called every nursery within 60 miles, and no one has this product. They said they would ship the product out to me. I planted the tree according to all of the details they suggest. I uncurrled the leaves to find more white webbing and small white moths.
I cut the infected leaves off per their instructions. I am using steamed distilled water and a moisture meter. There were so few leaves left and the tree was not looking very good. The product they send for the tree was open and had leaked all over the shipping box. I do not know if this was their fault or the shipping company. I contacted them again and they said they would refund my money. They sent a check for the price of the tree. No refund for the shipping and handling charges which were almost as much as the tree. Now I am back to "square one" because this tree is dying, and I am out of the shipping and handing charges. I will be using Dave's Garden web site to look for another lime tree.

I ordered 3 three year old trees two were in acceptable shape and are showing new growth under MH grow lights. The third had major branches broken and was much smaller than the other two trees even before I trimmed all the broken branches off. Leaves started falling off after a couple days under the grow lights. After close to a month under optimal grow conditions It is beginning to show new growth but it is going to be a long time before any fruit will be supported. Like some of the others have stated I tried to contact them a few times and never even recieve acknowledgement of my emails. There wasn't any reciept included in the boxes nor did I recieve a confirmation email when I placed the order and I couldn't get them to respond to my inquiries for a receipt. These are high dollar trees and I would expect at least some customer service but there was none. I would have thought it to be a scam if I hadn't recieved the trees. I had the intention of buying quite a few more trees for a greenhouse but after my experience and seeing what other prices and vendors are out there I will not be patronizing this establishment again.

"On Jul 11, 2013 1:39 PM, Four Winds Growers responded with:

Four Winds takes pride in its customer service, so we were surprised by this review. Occasionally there are problems with internet or phone service in our rural area, and this may have been part of the problem. We do send packing sheets with each order. They are enclosed with our How to Grow booklet. We did send an email to this customer to respond to his concerns but did not hear back from him.
If you have questions about our products or an order you have placed, call us at 877-449-4637 during business hours Monday – Friday, or 24-7, check out fourwindsgrowers.com or send us an email to cs@fourwindsgrowers.com. We try to be conscientious about answering email, and look forward to hearing from people interested in gardening with edibles.
"

I received a dwarf meyer lemon tree as a gift from my husband that was filled with blossoms and was thrilled. But after a week realized it was filled with aphids!!!!!!!!! I have tried all the care instructions from their website for two weeks but they continue to regroup. I have tried to contact them through email but received NO response. Very disappointed. And wouldn't be buying anything from them.

"On Apr 26, 2013 2:49 PM, Four Winds Growers responded with:

We were sad to see this negative comment in Dave's Garden since we did not receive the communication referred to and feel that we were not given an adequate opportunity to respond to the complaint. The best way to register such a concern is to call us toll free at 877-449-4637, ext. 1. We respond to all calls and messages received as soon as possible. Sometimes emails unfortunately go into spam or otherwise get lost. We NEVER deliberately ignore customer comments and always do our best to respond in a timely manner.
-Four Winds Growers"

I spent $40 on a 2-3 year old Meyer Lemon tree. The tree I received looked healthy enough, but I was very disappointed in it's size.

The Four Winds website says:
"The Two-Three year trees... are over two feet tall."
"These trees have a trunk that can range between 1/2" and 3/4" in diameter."

My tree was barely 18" tall, not at all "well branched" as advertised, and the caliper of the trunk is not even .5 an inch. Sadly it looks nothing like the picture they show on their website of an employee holding a big lush, well branched, bare root tree.

All in all I would say that this tiny little tree was extremely overpriced!
I would not recommend this seller, at least for the "bigger" trees.

i have purchased a number of trees from this nursery, which is based in northern california and i think has expanded to fast and its quality and value for the money is the worst i have ever seen at any large nursery. it looks like a rip off operation to me shipping very young trees in five gallon pots with no rootball grow out.

the first tree was an avocado tree...it was infected with root rot from the get go, as the avocado was planted in an elevated bed with soil amended with sand and mulch. after a heavy water in the avocado plant leafs drooped, which they never do when i have a healthy avocado. i had it for a year and it had all the symptons of root rot, which i verified. i had to dig up all the soil and throw it away and now have a great tree from a large commercial grower in its place. it is important to only buy avocados from growers who grow for commercial orchards as the plant quality is not high.

i purchased a dwarf citrus from these people and it also had to have root rot and be dug up despite being in a mound. after replacing the dirt and spraying a fungicide i have a lovely citrus in the same place.

i bought another citrus from them to find out it had a very bad insect infestation, and despite spraying the tree never produced well so i ripped it out. the rootstock was too weak and it was just a lousy tree despite my trying to mulch it back to health.

i would never, ever buy another plant from 4 winds. their business got to big with the big box stores and their quality is terrible. simply the worst i have ever seen. and all the really good commercial nursery for avocado and citrus are in SOUTHERN california or Central california where most of the avocado and citrus commerical crop is. these guys are in northern california making tons of money selling immature, and poor quality trees to retail suckers.

reliable growers i can recommend are dave wilson nursery, sierra gold, la verne nursery, c&m nursery, and browkaw nursery all of whom grow for large commercial producers.

avoid these guys their quality is gone and they are sitting on large extremely valuable land in fremont california and look to be coasting waiting for a land sale to a developer i expect.

i wish i could send them a bill for the dead and diseased trees and all the effort i spent nursing their poor stock.

rich guys at 4 winds and fruit poor and poor customers. i wish someone had been honest about these guys and suspect many of these posts are pure bullshit.

i am pleased to see that several of the nursery nearby where i live have stopped using 4 winds this year and are going with La Verne, so now i dont have to drive down to Piru to pick out my orchard stock

I have over 100+ fruit trees. I know what I am doing and 4 winds are the only trees i have killed, but largely due to their sending out clearly diseased trees and weak shoddy trees.

try the growers i recommend especially if your buying a lot of trees and you will be very happy with them.

whatever recipe 4 winds had, if they ever had one, is clearly gone.

state inspections don't mean squat the people that inspect nursery stock dont know what they are doing in most cases.

"On Apr 22, 2010 2:00 PM, Four Winds Growers responded with:

Four Winds Growers is sorry that you have not had good luck with some of our products. Your experience is not typical and we hope that you will contact us directly to discuss your situation. If a customer has issues, we appreciate having an opportunity to respond and try to correct the problem.

Four Winds Growers is a family run business that has been in operation for over 50 years. We pride ourselves on our plant quality and customer service. We do not sell plants that are diseased.

If there is ever a problem with our products, we encourage customers to contact us directly at cs@fourwindsgrowers.com. We stand by the plants we sell and will do everything we can to insure that you are satisfied with your purchase."