Shipping policy
Shipping
We are a grower, not a broker. Your trees leave our Texas ranch, or a nursery run we made ourselves, and go straight to you. Here is exactly what that costs and exactly when it happens.
What shipping costs
Orders of $99 or more ship free. No code, no minimum quantity, no membership. It is applied automatically at checkout.
Under $99, boxed trees are priced by weight and by how far they are travelling:
| Boxed weight | Texas | NM, OK, AR, LA | Rest of the continental US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 22 lb (one 3-gallon tree) | $14.95 | $19.95 | $24.95 |
| 22 – 55 lb (one 7-gallon tree) | $24.95 | $34.95 | $44.95 |
| 55 – 165 lb (multi-tree packs) | $49.95 | $69.95 | $89.95 |
| Over 165 lb | $99.95 | $139.95 | $179.95 |
Three things do not travel by parcel, and they are priced separately:
- 25-Tree Acre Pack — pallet freight. Two pallets on an LTL common carrier, curbside delivery. $349 in Texas, $549 to a neighbouring state, $849 elsewhere in the continental US. Curbside means the driver puts the pallets at the end of your driveway; tell us at checkout if you need a liftgate truck and we will arrange it.
- 15-Gallon Ranch Grade cedar elm — Texas only, $89. An 8 to 10 ft tree in a 15-gallon container does not go in a box. It goes on a pallet, on our truck or a Texas LTL partner, anywhere in the state. We do not ship this size out of Texas at all.
- Ranch Root Starter — $4.95 flat, free on small-goods orders of $49 or more. It ships separately from live trees because it is a 4 oz packet and the trees are in a five-foot carton.
If your cart mixes boxed trees, freight items and hard goods, checkout will show a separate rate for each, because they genuinely travel on separate trucks.
Four states we cannot ship live plants to
We do not ship live nursery stock to California, Arizona, Alaska or Hawaii.
California and Arizona both require origin-state agricultural certification for incoming nursery stock, and we do not hold it yet. Alaska and Hawaii are outside the contiguous states and a boxed tree does not survive the trip. Rather than take your money and cancel later, we have removed those four states from checkout entirely — you will not be able to select them, and that is deliberate. Hard goods are subject to the same footprint.
If you are in one of those states and you want a tree, email us. When the certification lands we will tell you first.
Ship windows — and why they are dates, not guesses
Every product page carries its ship window above the price. We do not use "usually ships in 3-5 business days" language because it means nothing. Here are the four windows in this catalog:
| Window | Dates | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-sell — 21 days | Within 21 days of your order (25-Tree Acre Packs: within 30 days) | Sawtooth Oak. We take your order, our crew makes the Louisiana nursery run, grades every tree against the printed spec, and boxes it. |
| Fall dormant | October 15 – December 15, 2026 | Cedar elm, Mexican sycamore, Monterrey oak, chinquapin oak, Texas red oak, Lacey oak, yaupon holly. Oldest order ships first. |
| Late dormant | November 1, 2026 – January 31, 2027 | Texas mountain laurel, possumhaw holly, anacacho orchid tree. These species resent being moved while pushing growth, so we hold them until they are fully dormant. |
| Hard goods — 3 days | Within 3 business days | Ranch Root Starter and Deer Guard + Stake Kit. USPS or UPS Ground. |
The fall windows are a deliberate hold, not a delay. Texas Arbor Day is the first Friday in November for a reason: fall is when a tree should go in the ground here. A tree shipped into a Texas August is a tree you will replace. We would rather make you wait eight weeks than sell you a casualty.
If we are going to be late
If we cannot ship inside that window we will email you before it closes with a revised date and a one-click cancel link. If the new date is 30 days or less past the original, you can wait or cancel — your choice. If we need more than 30 days, your order is cancelled and refunded automatically unless you tell us to hold it. Refunds go back to your original card within 7 business days. This is the FTC Mail Order Rule (16 CFR Part 435) and we would rather you use it than be surprised.
We build the notice before we need it, and it is one click for you either way. You do not have to chase us, and you never have to ask twice for money back.
When your tree arrives
- Open the box the day it lands. Five days in a carton is the outside limit and it is the one thing that voids the Rooted Guarantee.
- Leaf drop in the box is normal. Mexican sycamore in particular defoliates in transit. Possumhaw ships leafless on purpose during the dormant window. Scratch the bark with a thumbnail — green means alive.
- Measure it. The "What actually ships" numbers on the product page are the binding description of your tree. If it misses that spec, that is a full refund and you keep the tree. See our Refund Policy.
Order changes and address errors
Email us the moment you spot it. Before the order ships we can change almost anything, including the shipping address, at no cost. After a pallet is tendered to a freight carrier a reconsignment fee applies and we will tell you the number before we do anything.
Large orders, mature trees and builders
Anything over about 25 trees, any 15 ft specimen, and any order that needs install or a crane is quoted rather than sold from the cart. That is not us being coy — freight for a two-pallet order depends on site access, staging and season, and no checkout page can price that honestly. Go to Bulk & Builders and we will come back with a real number.