Comments regarding MrMaple (Nichol's Nursery)

I have ordered lots of trees from Mr Maple. First and foremost, they sell trees after recently up-potting them. What I mean by this - they will take a recently grafted, liner tree, and place it into a 1 gallon and sell it IMMEDIATELY. This means that if you take their plants out of the container, you’ll see that 90% of the time the plant hasn’t even BEGUN to fill out the pot. It’s blatantly obvious when the root system is still the same size as a liner or a one gallon. They play dumb when asked about this. Matt told me that I didn’t make sense when telling him about this, so I made a YouTube video to explain my case. Matt, the owner, essentially guilt tripped me into deleting the video, accusing me of attacking and bashing them - I will never again silence my voice and opinions on behalf of a shady businessman.

What lead me to make this review is the terrible looking ‘illarian’ I received. Matt, the owner, always states on his YouTube, that Mr Maple sells only the best and highly variegated plants. This is not the case at all. Aside from all the withering on the illarian, it contained about 4-5 variegated leaves. The way they advertised this tree, it showed tons and tons of variegation. The office ignored my email until I commented on a YouTube video directly to Matt. I was told there was nothing wrong with my order, which is honestly a big middle finger. I posted a video of this tree after unboxing it on YouTube. I’ll provide a link at the bottom of this review. Matt is a complete TOOL online and he’s full of sh*t about this order looking ‘good’. I encourage you to look at the video of these trees. Something tells me that Matt wouldn’t buy these trees himself, yet he expects everyone to be content with his low quality product.

[HYPERLINK@youtu.be]

2 Wissel's Saguaro Cypress. 1 OK; small for $45. Other bent sideways, about 45º. Never should have been sold. Request for replacement ignored. Critical review not posted.

Last year I purchased a conifer. The plant arrived timely and well packaged. Upon arrival, the tree looked healthy, but soil was severely dried out. I immediately watered the tree well to hydrate the soil and plant. I gave the tree 7-10 days to recuperate before planting. Then, I appropriately transferred the tree to a larger pot with proper soil and watered well, and thereafter accordingly. Despite all of my expertise and pampering the tree gradually and continually turned from yellow to brown, at which time, I determined was dead. So therefore, believing the tree was very stressed from drying out in shipment resulting in the death of the tree, I contacted the Mr Maple Nursery for a replacement. I offered to pay for shipping if they were willing to replace the tree. However, much to my surprise, the nursery did refuse replacement.even with me willing to pay the shipping cost. Needless to say, I was very disappointed that the nursery was unwilling to make things "right" with me. It is more a matter of principal to me. But moreover, I was taught a lesson from this first time experience with the nursery, and that lesson is to never ever order from this nursery again. I was taught well the first time.

In last year have purchased several Japanese maples from Mr. Maple and was generally satisfied. Three weeks ago I ordered 4 small trees; when order received 1 was very unhealthy. Thinking it might be shipment stress, I babied it, along with others, but it continued to decline. Messaged company with pics and information and they could not care less. Gave me a few helpful hints to "save a dying plant" but apparently you're on your own if they send a dying tree and you can't miraculously save it.

I was really excited about them, but will not buy from them in the future. Any company that doesn't stand behind its product is not one I want to do business with, especially since I've purchased several trees and would think I'm a "good customer" for them. I also will go back to those folks to whom I recommended the company and tell them that I no longer do so. (It's probably a blessing in disguise, because I don't NEED to buy any more Japanese maples anyway!)

I regret buying from this company.
In April 2022 I ordered a Japanese maple and three azaleas from them. The order arrived in reasonable time, but one of the azaleas looked distinctly less healthy then the other two. I reckoned it would recover so planted it together with the other two, and I’m an eternal optimist.
The two good ones flowered fine, but the sickly one bloomed poorly and a couple weeks later than the others.
For about six weeks it clung on, but then one day I realized it was dead.
I contacted Mr.Maple to see what they would do about a replacement, but was told that I’d missed their three day window for returns.
I won’t be shopping there again, for my Apex NC garden nor my Columbus NC garden.

4 plants that I ordered looked dead upon arrival. They did not grow. 4 other plants did grow. The company refused to refund or provide replacements. They only guarantee plants 3 days after shipping. Recommend not ordering from Mr Maple.

ordered a ginko. $60+ with shipping. not happy with the tree quality or size. if you order from them, ask them to send you a picture of what they are sending before placing the order.

Hi

I bought 6 plants from MrMaple 07April2021. I spent $250.49 (order number MRMAPLE34219). It was a mail order. First whey they arrived 4 of plants were tiny with limped leaves and branches. Two of them survived and four of them did not make it. When I called MrMaple they did not replace the plants. When I spoke to MrMaple guys, they said there is no plant replacement policy for plants that die because of cold weather. I wonder why two plants survived out of six plants if the weather was cold. I would love to upload the pictures of dead plants but there seems like there is a limitation to upload the phots. This my experience. I would never (NEVER EVER) buy from MrMaple.com.

I ordered a small Shishigashira (Lions Head) Japanese maple from MrMaple.com nearly 4 months ago (in early April 2021). The package arrived in a relatively timely manner. However, the apex of the tree was dead/rotted and greyish/black. It was approximately 1.25 inches long and about 1/2 pencil thickness. My best guess is that it was dieback from the apex being broken off or snipped off weeks or months earlier.

Unfortunately, the second best choice of an apex (a somewhat vertical growing top branch) was bent over and broken either in shipment or during the packing process. This was broken right above the cardboard insert that is supposed to support the top part of the tree during shipment.

Amazingly, right below the cardboard support insert, I saw that the 3rd best choice of a possible apex was also bent over and broken. Though I was surprised and a bit annoyed to receive the tree in this condition, I didn't complain just yet about it in part because my family was quite busy at the time and also because I figured it was a tiny "starter tree" and I shouldn't expect much. ($35 + $17.24 shipping = $52.24 total) I am glad that I at least took pictures of the problems before removing the tree from its shipping box.

Instead of complaining, I tried to fix the 2 newly broken stems using tape and hoped that at least 1 of the 2 would heal. But, they both dried out in a few days. So, I was left with kind of an odd looking tree with no top (dead on arrival natural apex, dead after a few days 2nd best apex because of packing breakage, and dead after a few days 3rd possible apex because of packing breakage).

On May 5th 2021, I sent a message to MrMaple.com detailing what I described above. I included pictures of how the tree arrived (with 1 dead natural apex and 2 broken alternate apexes) and also pictures showing how I tried to mend the broken branches with tape.

I explained that the little shishigashira was received in such a way as to basically set if off to a really bad start. And, being a rather slow growing variety, it was going to take quite awhile for it to outgrow and overcome the awkwardness of shape caused by losing the 3 "best" possible apexes.

I did not receive a reply to my May 5th email. So, 1 week later on May 12th, I got Matt Nichols cell number off of their website and sent him a text. He replied in about 30 minutes, apologized and said "Tim said he would call you. I will remind him." I then thanked him for that. But, I never heard from either of them again after that.

That's the extent of my experience with MrMaple.com.

I ordered four maples only two arrived. There was no shipping label or invoice in the box but the shipping-email indicated that all four were sent together. At first, I thought the second box with the other two maples would arrive later on another Fed Ex truck. But it's five days later, and nothing. I've also called and written Matt and Tim five times. I have not received a call or an email back indicating if there is another box on the way or what. I examined the Fed Ex box and it didn't indicate 1 of 2. I'm very upset and I feel that they have ripped me off, basically only sending half of what I paid for. If I don't get a response next week I'm likely going to call my credit card company and explain what happened. Not happy at all. The two trees I do have look fine. But after reading some of the reviews I'm going to check how they were packed and what their roots look like. I've lost faith.

I ordered three Japanese maples. They had obviously been very recently transplanted and were most definitely not well established. Potting soil loose and root systems inadequate. I babied them as well as I know how, but not one has leafed out this spring although my three new Bloodgoods (from a different nursery) have leafed and are doing just fine. I will never order from these folks again.

I ordered 2 one gallon Japanese Maples in August 2020. They were promptly shipped. When I unpacked the maples I was surprised that the soil was fairly loose and quite a bit came out of the pot, but I attributed it to rattling during shipment. When I transplanted the Maples, it became apparent that both Maples had probably just been transplanted to the 1 gallon container before shipment. One of the root system was actually still in the small square configuration from the previous pot size. The other wasn't square, but was about the same size and sitting in loose soil. I emailed Mr Maple three times over the course of 2 weeks and no response.
It seems they do this on a regular basis. I should have read all reviews.

Ordered a variety of maples and other small trees. Overall, they have a great selection online, but a number of the maples arrived with leaf die-back and fungus. My greater issue is that the business will ignore any complaints emailed to them. In one of my orders, a japanese maple was left out. I emailed twice to inform them of the missing tree and both emails were ignored. I'm also weary to bring the Mr.Maple trees close to my existing Acer collection this season for fear of disease transmission.

Ordered two maple trees from Mr. Maple, which arrived in April. One survived and the other did not. Have attempted to contact them by both email and phone since May. They do not answer in either form.

I cannot recommend them at all. Zero customer service. Buy at your own risk.

During the Winter/early Spring of 2020, I ordered around 20 plants from Mr. Maple, 3 of which did not even survive to be planted out. One conifer just got more and more brown in color as Spring approached, until there was no doubt that it was dead. One Maple started to leaf out and then died. One Beech just never leafed out at all. I have sent numerous emails. I began by sending a couple of inquiries and never received a reply. I then wrote with specific info and photos of the dead trees. It seems to me that if one has purchased so much merchandise from a company, that company would be gracious enough to reply and offer at least some compensation or credit. Sadly, I will not be purchasing any more plants from this nursery.

I ordered a Stewartia variety advertised and sold as a 1 gal container sized tree. When the plant arrived I was surprised at the size of the pot, then researched the web and learned that in the nursery business a 1 gal container is actually approximately 2/3 of an everyday gallon. Ok, I can live with that - a learning experience. But when I removed the plant from its container, the soil fell away, leaving a bareroot plant that had CLEARLY been recently repotted into an oversized container. I emailed the owners to express my dissatisfaction and did not even get the courtesy of a reply. I've had this experience with one other nursery mail order company that I no longer buy from, and have been buying mail order plants for about 40 years, including bareroot as well as b&b, and container grown plants. I know some of the other comments point out how well these are packed - but I am paying for the plant too, not just the packaging.

Posted on September 17, 2019, updated September 24, 2019
I ordered 3 maples last spring.1 is thriving, 2 died within a month of planting. They were gallon plants, but had very small root development. I tried for weeks to get hold of them for replacement. Finally, one of the Nichols called me back in July, and said they wouldn’t have replacements til September. I offered to have them substitute similar plants, but he wouldn’t. So now it’s September and I haven’t heard a word from them after multiple attempts to email and call. The emails get kicked back, and their phone mailboxes are “full”,so you can’t leave a message and get cut off. No return/ replacement/ guarantee is listed on their website. I’m out $70. Very poor service. Buyer beware! Worst experience with mail order ever. They should stand by their products.

I originally wanted to make an order from the company but I have not been successful contacting them by phone or email. I sent an email with questions 9 days ago and have not received a response. I have tried calling the two numbers, listed on their website, and have never received an answer or a call back in response to my message. I’m now planning on taking my business elsewhere due to their seemingly nonexistent customer service.

I ordered a "gallon" sized maple from these guys. When I took it out of the pot, it had a root ball the size of an orange. One has to wonder what these plant sizes even mean. I didn't think I was ordering a gallon of dirt.

I really wanted to leave a positive review but I can't.
I bought 2 maples from them a few months ago.
One tree never flushed out and the other flushed out,
The leaves turned goey and fell off. I have over 20 years experience
Growing rare and unusual plants from all over the world so I am not an inexperienced gardener. I have tried contacting them several times and basically been ignored. I was hoping to use them again for the botanical garden but if they won't respond and stand by what they sell I don't think I can.
If I'd gotten an answer I would have tried to be objective.

This company will not stand behind their plants. I bought several trees from this nursery. While most survived one did not. Less than 6 months after spending $85.00 (includes shipping) on a 3 gallon Japanese Maple it died. When I brought this to the attention of the nursey I was told they have no replacement policy. Be very careful purchasing from this nursery, you never know what you are going to get and they will not work with you if there is a problem. I will not be returning as a customer.