February March 2018

7 colorad o nga.org LooseLeaf February/March 2018 Damaged On Arrival The delivery of plants in poor condition may be relatively rare, but dealing with shipping issues can cut into valuable staff time and leave wholesale customers short on plants. While most issues can be solved with relatively little direct financial loss to the customer, some less common issues can cost tens of thousands of dollars. “When inventory is low, shipping becomes a bigger issue,” said Little Valley Wholesale Nursery Purchasing Manager Kerri Dantino. “We’re trying to work with growers. If a tree has a minor flaw that might have been rejected in the past, we try to give it a chance to heal over, or do more pruning and care on this end than we did in the past, so we can have enough trees to sell. We don’t sell B-grade plants, so if we can’t fix minor flaws, we donate those plants or chip them and make mulch.” Growers are cooperative in providing credits for damaged plants, but their customers are left searching for replacement plants. Plus, freight costs, which are often paid to contractors, are not always refunded. “The hardest part is shipping from out-of-state vendors, where it can cost $3,000 for freight. We usually don’t ask for a freight credit from vendors. We asked for that once in the four years I’ve been here,” Dantino said. Dutch Heritage Gardens Head Grower Brian Austin agreed the actual cost of shipping issues is minimal if issues are discovered quickly. “A lot of times we are notified of incoming issues before they come in the door, especially with young plants. If they find a virus when cutting stock or if it is found at customs, the vendor will tell us. Even if they are late to ship because a crop is not on schedule, they’ll let us know in advance. With all the technology being used these days, shipping surprises should be decreasing,” Austin said. The real costs of discovering damaged plants is time in finding and receiving replacements. “Sometimes replacements are not available and we’re forced into ordering alternative plants. If we’re doing combos and one part of the combo is damaged and there are no replacements for it, then we have to work around a problem like that,” he added. Shipped plants with diseases or insects that are not identified before entering the greenhouse have the costliest consequences. “If we don’t catch it and it spreads to other crops in the greenhouse, then you can go from a $200 loss, which you will be credited for, to $20,000 in crop loss in a worst-case scenario. That’s where it really hurts us. By the time we notice the issue, the company that shipped the product is not willing to cover the loss of three acres of greenhouse, and your own business has to eat that cost and spend a little more of your own money to clean it up,” he said. Damaged trees, shrubs, and perennials Shipping issues seem to happen much more frequently with balled and burlapped (B&B) trees than with shrubs and perennials, though perennials can be fragile, too, Dantino said. “Trees are much larger, are handled more and therefore more susceptible to damage. Deciduous are more easily damaged than coniferous. Smooth barked trees are highly susceptible to damage, whereas a tree like a Burr oak is not scratched as easily,” she explained. Packing B&B trees on trucks can be difficult, providing many opportunities for damage. Branches can become tangled and stacks can fall over. Little Valley purchases from one B&B grower that used to send trucks with double-stacked trees. “It took too long to unload, and trees were being damaged as they were being taken off. We were willing to pay a little more freight to avoid those problems,” she said. Another grower sent a shipment of trees that were unloaded with a bunch of scrapes on the trunks. The trees were shipped bound in corrugated pipe to protect them and keep them stable, but it was wrapped so tightly around the trees that removing it caused a lot of damage. “In that case, it took some brainstorming to figure out how to prevent damage in the future, like using a different type of material as a stabilizer,” she said. Kerri Dantino, Little Valley Wholesale Nursery Purchasing Manager Potential Problems with Shipped Plants continues »