On a large order, the half day you spend walking the rows in Sealy is the cheapest insurance on the job. You put an orange tag on the trees you want, and those are the trees that get loaded. Everything that usually goes wrong on delivery day goes wrong because the trees that arrive are not the trees somebody pictured when they read the quote, and tagging closes that gap before a truck is booked. This post is how a tagging visit actually runs, from the contractor's side.
Why it is worth the drive
The farm is at 3153 FM 2187 Rd, Sealy, TX 77474, about an hour west of Houston on I-10 and a straightforward drive from Austin or San Antonio. Landscapers and re-wholesalers are welcome to walk the rows and tag. Call ahead on (210) 736-0146 so somebody is free to walk with you and answer questions in the row.
What you get for the trip is agreement. Caliper is measured and accepted at delivery, and a tree that misses the agreed specification can be refused at the gate. That protects you either way, but a refusal on delivery day still costs you a hole in the plan and a place on the schedule. Tagging moves the whole argument to a Tuesday morning at the farm, weeks earlier, where the fix is walking twenty feet to the next tree.
What to bring
- The plant list, with caliper and height on it. Bring the numbers as the drawing states them. If the specification calls for caliper measured at a particular height above ground, bring that line too.
- The planting schedule. The ship date belongs on the quote, and it is easier to agree standing in the row than over email a week later.
- Whoever decides. Bring the person who can say yes to a tree that is a quarter inch under or a foot taller than the drawing. A visit where every call has to go back to the office turns half a day into two trips.
- A phone with the availability list open. The availability list is public and comes from the same records our sales team quotes from, so you can check counts and sizes in the aisle as you go.
Boots, water and a hat cover the rest. The rows are gravel and open sky.
What to look for in the row
Six things are worth checking on every tree you tag.
Caliper, at the standard height. Caliper is the diameter of the trunk, and the nursery standard (ANSI Z60.1) measures it 6 inches above the ground for trees up to 4 inches, and 12 inches above the ground for larger trees. Trunks flare at the base, so a reading taken at the soil line flatters every tree. Measure where the standard says and you are measuring the same number the specification means. Multi-trunk ornamentals (crape myrtles, vitex, mountain laurel) are specified by height and trunk count rather than caliper, so count the trunks on those and check the height.
Height. Height and caliper move independently. Two trees in the same caliper band can be several feet apart, which is exactly why coming out beats ordering to a number when the height matters. A pole against the tree settles it in a few seconds.
A straight trunk. Sight up the trunk from a few feet back, from two sides, and look at the leader while you are there.
A full canopy on all sides. Walk around the tree. Our containers stand above ground on weed fabric, each on its own drip line, spaced wider than they strictly need to be, so trees here have room to grow out on every side instead of reaching up for light. Look for the tree that has used that room, and check the side that faced its neighbour.
The root ball. Every tree here is container grown, potted as a liner and moved up through the sizes, so the roots have never been cut and the whole root system goes on the truck. Ask and we will tip a ball out of its container while you are standing there. What that changes on planting day is covered in container grown or field dug.
The container size your specification translates to. Specifications talk in caliper and nurseries grow in containers, so do the translation before you start tagging. On this farm a #30 runs 1.5 to 2 inch caliper, a #45 runs 2 to 2.5, a #65 runs 3 to 3.5, a #100 runs 4 to 5, a #200 runs 5 to 6 and a #300 runs 7 to 8. A 3 inch minimum means the #65 row, however hard you pick through the #45s. The container size guide has the full table with heights.
While you are in the row, tag a few spares. On an order of any size it is worth having two or three extra trees identified per variety, so a change on site has an answer that is already inspected.
How a tag turns into a held quote
The sequence is short and it is worth knowing before you arrive.
- You tag. Orange tags go on the trees you picked, and we record them against your name.
- The quote comes to you with freight stated on it. Every quote states freight, so the number you carry into the bid is the number you pay. If you are hauling, the quote can be priced loaded at the farm instead.
- You approve the quote online. Approval takes a moment and it is the step that commits both sides.
- Those exact trees are held to the ship date. The approved quote holds the trees you tagged for the date written on it.
Trees are held once the quote is approved, so if the plan is still moving, tell us the ship date you are working toward and approve when you have it. Trees on a contract carry the customer's name and are kept off the public availability list. For a job that is a season or more out, bidding a job that needs 100 large caliper trees walks through committing trees further ahead.
Delivery day at the gate
Caliper is measured and accepted at delivery, and a tree that misses the agreed specification can be refused. When you tagged the trees yourself, that check is a formality: the tags on the trunks are yours, the numbers were agreed in the row, and the load matches the quote.
Plan the unloading with the same care. A #65 pot alone is a two-person lift, and #100 and up needs equipment on site to place it. Say on the quote whether the site can take a full load or wants splitting, and who signs at the gate.
Coming out
Check the availability list for your varieties and sizes before you drive, then call (210) 736-0146 and we will set a time and have somebody walk the block with you. If it is easier to start with a plant list, send it through the pricing form and we will come back within one business day with what we have. Either way, every tree we grow lists the varieties and the container sizes we grow them in, so you can see what is worth a trip.
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