Anyone know if he is still selling trees? Anybody have any experience with him good or bad?

Never dealt with him i did see his # number somewhere here or on the other forum posted.
Maybe someone knows it .

Ive located his number. Last mention of him was in 2011. I'm looking to see what experiences people have had with him. I'll probably call him next week but always appreciate learning from someone else's experiences

Here is another forum that has his info. Frank


http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fig/msg072127174020.html

I've had only positive experiences with him. There is another recent thread where he was brought up, can't recall which one, where Satelite had experienced a problem with RKN infected trees. I've bought from him for the past 4 or 5 years and everything has been great, good sized trees, good prices. He will send you his list of available varieties if you call, you tell him what you want, send him a check, he ships bare root in the fall, you then send him the shipping costs. You won't be disappointed.  

I live by the 'screw me once...' philosophy.  If its my first time doing business and you screw me somehow, I'm done.  If you want to see what I was shipped, see:  http://goo.gl/uc9M7

To read the back story in retrospect and additional problems with the plants, see: http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Infected-plants-revisited-5474783

I know a lot of people have claimed to have good experiences and I don't doubt it's true.  Maybe I was just the one unlucky schmuck who got burned after believing the claims that "he fixed his problems with RKN" a couple years ago .... which is the same thing being said now, same thing said every 2-3 years, but I still get private messages occasionally with stories of problems from people who won't speak up on the forum for fear of venom from avid supporters of his. 

On the upside, anything from him that's infected can be airlayered at the trunk.  On the downside, you may as well have obnoxiously contagious "plant root HIV" on your hands by taking that product in, which can Easily infect everything in your yard/plants and leave you miserable for months, years or forever if you don't understand the risks and act accordingly.

Stupid question: can RKN survive zone 6 winters?

Seems that once you have it, you have it.

Along with RKN, Grubs can be a nuisance as well.

Jason, 

Yeah I read the thread and saw the pics, not good. If I read correctly he immediately sent you a replacement tree. What has been your experience with that one?

slingha,
The only stupid question is the one never asked.

But your question is a good one and I have asked this long ago. I was told no it will not make it in ( at least Michigan ) winters.

There are a few in the north that are not concerned by it because they know it is sure doom come winter time.

RKN is well documented in the NE US, even where the ground has hard freezes.

@Barry, he didn't sent me a replacement.  He doesn't use the Internet, so I shipped the tree back to him so he could see it was infected.  He refunded the price of the tree, as I recall, and when I complained that I paid shipping both ways with no refund on any of it, he apparently heard from a forum member that i thought this was a poor business practice and sent a check for half the shipping price to send the infected tree back (but not the price to ship infected plant material to me in the first place).  

At that point, I just gave up and let him roll with it, and posted to GW forum that we "squared up" because I was getting so much grief from folks with an emotional or personal attachment to him that were flaming me behind the scenes for sharing my negative buying experience.

I have no hard feelings - I know the guy is in a bad position with his wife's illness, and he is retired and could use the money... But I mean... I wasn't brought up to believe any of those things are an acceptable excuse for poor business practice.  He knew he had the RKN problem - it had been pointed out for years - and you can clearly see how badly infected the tree was that he shipped to me.  It's just wrong.  But that's just my take.  Others may feel differently.

Well I am really surprised that he would knowingly send you an infected tree. As you've indicated, he is very well liked, I like him. every I know except you who has dealt with him likes him, he is a very personable guy. I may not be the best judge of character, but I have had a good feeling about all my contacts with him and all of my trees have been fine. I wouldn't hestate to order again, but of course if I do I will closely examine the tree. Again, I am sorry you had to go through all that, definitely an unfun experience. 

Barry,

I never dealt with JR and heard all kinds of good things about him. But he is human and can make mistakes.

I know Jason and have met him. He is a man of principles. I believe whole hearted that Jason would not make up a story like this, he has nothing to gain out of this.

My theory is JR shipped a bad fig unknowingly and what ever went on there after Jason did state that he left it alone.

People can be strange in many ways. We are a strange bunch.

Humans are strange for sure.  And he is a nice guy, Barry, I loved talking with him on the phone, he was a pleasure.  It's no wonder people like him so much.  But I'm not buying his personality or his story, I'm buying his plants.  You'd have to be blind to miss the RKN on the plant I posted pics of at that first link up there, so I'm skeptical.  I took pics as a permanent gauge for others to judge.

Really, I'm serious when I say I don't have a grudge.  If I had a grudge or vendetta against the guy, I have the means to go after him and wreck his business, but where does that get any of us?  Nowhere.  I will make sure folks know what to look for when buying from him if they are looking, though, which is all I'm doing here.  I hope people provide the same feedback publicly about what I supply to others so I can gauge my products and business methods.

Reality:  1 of 4 trees from JR were OK without special work on my part.  One died of weird disease.  Two were slightly RKN imfected and airlayered to make 2-3 trees while the spare infected leftovers went into our local community garden which is already laden with RKN. I don't have beef with JR, mostly because I've paid more for single trees from some forum members or vendors than i spent on all four of his trees.  That's awesome, but the risk and pain wasnt worth it in some aspects.

(PS - people don't naturally speak up in public about bad biz practice in this community.  It's a fast way to get ostracized and blacklisted. This is why you probably haven't hear anyone speaking out.)

I purchased two trees from James Robin in the Fall of 2011 that arrived in early Spring of 2012 (February). I ordered a LSU Scott's Yellow that was labeled Alma-Celeste and O'Rourke that was labeled LSU Improved Celeste. Concerning RKN, my inspection revealed none. Concerning the peculiar labeling, I called him to ask about it. He said that the Scott's Yellow was grafted and that O'Rourke is LSU IC. The leaf shape looks to be different from my mature LSU IC. Time will tell.

As many have said, he is a colorful. He referred to me as "Mr. Governor" because I share the same name as the former Governor of Louisiana who was also a country music and gospel singer. I enjoyed talking with him.

Rafed.......100% in agreement that we can be a strange bunch like me. I have more fig trees than I need. Every week I have some one asking whether I sell them. It is more visible now as I have relocated half the trees to the front side of the house. Thanks to my son dog.

The dog has to go.

Hey Rafed,

The dog has to go. ............. I'm totally for it! He chewed up my lazy "LOVE" sofa.

By the way, how's your leg. Heard from Paul you got stung by a bee .

Bye and have a blessed day. :)
Cath

Cathrine,

Leg is much better, I should be able to go back on the road sometime next week. Thanks for asking.

Is Paul behaving himself?

Looks like he would be camping with the figs outside with this warm trend coming up. He is always out in the yard working with the figs. He has so many fig varieties and I am happy he plants them for me. Some varieties he says is difficult to get. He hunts for them every where he goes. These days many strangers are dropping by to talk figs with him as he has them located closer to the front of the house making them visible. Just love fresh figs. He says you have an awesome collection.

Catherine

After reading the pros and cons I'm going to place an order with Mr. Robin tomorrow. If they're bareroot I'll check them before I pot them. Sounds like a guy who could use some business. 
Im still in the "need to order doubles just-in-case" phase so I may have some to trade next year.

Be sure to check your roots before trading also.  I didn't notice two of my three trees were infected at first, but after looking at pictures later after finding knots on them ~3 months later, I saw the small swell nodes in spots that knots were on bareroot arrival.

Be sure to clean any tools used near roots or soil with those trees and I recommend recycling the pots you use with them.

Just saying... from personal experience.

Jason 

I appreciate it. Im pretty confident that southern RKN won't survive a zone 6 winter based on the literature