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Encanto Farms Nursery > Topics > Reads Nursery (uk) Closed?
 
 


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ukfigsteve

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Posted Reply with quote  #1 
Reads Nursery is / was the only place to get a decent variety of fig trees in this country, it seems to have been off line for a month or so, do any UK members know anything? has Reads closed down? I cant find any news on the internet,

Cheers,Steve
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Steve, Chelmsford, England (Zone 8b)
haslamhulme

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Posted Reply with quote  #2 
Hi Steve, I've been wondering the same thing,I tried googling about to see if there was any news about it but nothing,I sent a few emails regarding cuttings for this winter before the site went down,no response.have you tried calling?
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Haroon,Birmingham UK,Europe,USDA zone 8

Growing:B.Turkey,Jerusalem,V.Dauphine,Pd.Dalmatie W.Adriatic, RDB,Goute D'or,W.Marsailles,Bavarian Violet,Ali Pasha,Falls Gold,
Alma,W.Broggioto,Conadria,G.Ischia,Celeste,a dozen unknowns

Deceased:Mission( received new cuttings from a generous member today,thank you!)
ukfigsteve

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Posted Reply with quote  #3 
Hi Haroon,

I've not tried calling as i'm not looking to buy trees at the moment, but may well do so in the future, it'd be sad to see the place go, they are something like 5th generation nursery people, they hold the largest uk fig collection too. If they close i guess that honour will fall to Vinny in Bognor, ;-) he seems to have a fair few varieties going down there :-)

Regards, Steve
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Steve, Chelmsford, England (Zone 8b)
FigFan

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Posted Reply with quote  #4 
as long as there are no customs hindrances, you may order from france or germany, too. there are somer very good fig-shops.

may I post the shoplinks here? or is it forbidden in this forum?
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Greetings, Kai - Please overlook my (rather bad) school english, thx! :-)
Germany, Zone 7-ish, 200 m altitude, cold westwind valley.

Owned: 'RdB', 'Olympian', 'BT', 'Black Plate Giant', 'Trnavska', Ficus palmata ssp. virgata, Ficus afghanistanica, "B&W", 'Ignaz 1000' (Mt Etna 1 km. alt.), 'Ignaz 1200' (Mt Etna 1.2 km alt.), 'Ribe' (unkn. Denmark), 'Bratislava' (unkn. Slovakia), unkn. Denmark/Sweden 2, unkn. green Italy, unkn. fig (possibly BT), unkn. fig (possibly 'Dalmatie' or 'Doree').
All of my figs are still "babyplants" (0-3 y, all still potted/rooting in 2016), so don't expect cuttings too early ...

Want: 'Michurinska-10', ultra hardy lokal figs, [hardy carnivor plants, (hardy and non-hardy) cactuses & succulents, (hardy and non hardy) orchids, miniature varieties of plants, corals/anemones/algeae] - if you have some offset of plants that could be interesting for me and you live in the EU (for shipment/customs issues), please don't hesitate to contact me! :-)


Elruge

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Posted Reply with quote  #5 
Steve, I also have tried to contact Reads with no luck. I had no reply to an email sent 10th November. A subsequent email sent 7th December failed delivery which suggests the email address is no longer valid. I have also tried phoning a few times. The phone rings but nobody answers. Like you I could find nothing on the internet, which is surprising.
I did notice that this year while the website was still up their available fig varieties were much reduced, which could have been a sign of the business running down.
Still it is a shame that another traditional nursery appears to have closed.
For future reference RV Roger of Pickering North Yorkshire has a pretty good selection of figs including col de dame blanche.
Cheers, John
kkk2210

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Posted Reply with quote  #6 
Hey guys,
I Spoke to steven reads on facebook. They have closed the business due to personal reasons.
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Vinny

Bognor Regis, United Kingdom

Wish List : Callara, De La Rio,Cul Noir, Calvy, LSU Red, I-258, Maltese Beauty, Preto, FMV Infected Ischia Black UCD. 

My Ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/myb/Summary?MyEbay&gbh=1
haslamhulme

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Posted Reply with quote  #7 
Very sad to hear Reads is gone,but when it's personal reasons enough said,it's a pity I wasn't interested in figs earlier of they would have picked up some business from me.Did he mention what was going to happen to the collection? I know they didn't make much of having the 'national collection' status but who is there now to take up that baton?
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Haroon,Birmingham UK,Europe,USDA zone 8

Growing:B.Turkey,Jerusalem,V.Dauphine,Pd.Dalmatie W.Adriatic, RDB,Goute D'or,W.Marsailles,Bavarian Violet,Ali Pasha,Falls Gold,
Alma,W.Broggioto,Conadria,G.Ischia,Celeste,a dozen unknowns

Deceased:Mission( received new cuttings from a generous member today,thank you!)
kkk2210

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Posted Reply with quote  #8 
Quote:
Originally Posted by haslamhulme
Very sad to hear Reads is gone,but when it's personal reasons enough said,it's a pity I wasn't interested in figs earlier of they would have picked up some business from me.Did he mention what was going to happen to the collection? I know they didn't make much of having the 'national collection' status but who is there now to take up that baton?

National fruit collection in my rescerch is awarded by many organisations. It's almost like ranking universities . I could be wrong and I don't know who's gonna take over reads business . I almost bought all there listed Figs and many unlisted as Steve send me a list of his collection in 2013. Every single cuttings I bought from reads rooted well.

I asked him last week if they have plans to reopen, but he did not reply. Also Figs are not the only plants they sell, so he might just keep them as his collection and I believe reads family is quite well off .

I think I posted a bunch of fig selling nurser's links on one of your topic . You can still buy from baud and his prices are like 25-40 euros depending on the pot size and variety. If you buy more than 8 trees shipping is included in that price. It's not worth buying just one or two. I think these are really good prices.
If I hear from Steve I'll let you know .
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Vinny

Bognor Regis, United Kingdom

Wish List : Callara, De La Rio,Cul Noir, Calvy, LSU Red, I-258, Maltese Beauty, Preto, FMV Infected Ischia Black UCD. 

My Ebay: http://www.ebay.co.uk/myb/Summary?MyEbay&gbh=1
haslamhulme

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Posted Reply with quote  #9 
My understanding was that National Fruit collection status was awarded by DEFRA,could be wrong but I think that's how Brogdale got theirs.

I've got a great list of nurseries from you Vinny,many of whom sell at very reasonable prices,I window shop them in the same way my wife does shoes haha.Im very glad we have someone in the UK with their finger on the pulse of the U.K. Fig world,what little there seems to be of it.

Once I've got my garden and allotment sorted I'll have more space for half a dozen in ground and a 'few' potted, so I've tried to slow down a bit on acquiring actual trees for now,,but having options when it comes to selecting what varieties to buy is a good thing and our local options just got that bit smaller.

It's just a great shame to see another family run traditional nursery go to the wall,I know lots have been lost due to not being able to transition to the Internet well and competition from the big nursery companies but Reads had decent enough website and the widest selection for sale on this island of figs and they had a lot of other fruit plants as well.Oh well, I suppose there is always Wyvale lol
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Haroon,Birmingham UK,Europe,USDA zone 8

Growing:B.Turkey,Jerusalem,V.Dauphine,Pd.Dalmatie W.Adriatic, RDB,Goute D'or,W.Marsailles,Bavarian Violet,Ali Pasha,Falls Gold,
Alma,W.Broggioto,Conadria,G.Ischia,Celeste,a dozen unknowns

Deceased:Mission( received new cuttings from a generous member today,thank you!)
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