Support and FAQ: questions, answers and a way to reach us

Yes. We ship within the contiguous United States, priced by zone. Mid-Atlantic: $15.00 for the first item and $3.00 for each additional item in the same package. Rest of contiguous US: $25.00 for the first item and $4.00 for each additional item in the same package. An order of only seed, acorns or nuts, with no live plant in it, has its own rate. Mid-Atlantic: $5.00 for the first item and $0.50 for each additional item in the same package. Rest of contiguous US: $10.00 for the first item and $1.00 for each additional item in the same package. Live plants ship in February, March, April, May, October, November, when they are dormant; acorns, nuts and seed ship year-round.

The states in each zone and the current shipping window are on the shipping and pickup page.

A box leaves within 1 to 3 business days of the order and is 2 to 5 business days in transit, and we email you when it leaves, with the tracking number when the carrier provides one. Live plants ship only in February, March, April, May, October, November: an order placed outside those months is held and shipped in the next window, while acorns, nuts and seed in the same order go out right away where practical.

Yes. Local pickup is free: choose it at checkout and we will email you when your order is ready and agree a time.

Most plants are sold as seedlings and young saplings, grown from seed here, usually 12 to 18 inches tall when they ship; some are sold as acorns, nuts or seed packets instead of or as well as plants. A plant's sizes and prices appear on its page once they are set, and until then the page takes an email address for one message when it is priced. Sizes change through the season as stock sells and grows.

It depends on the species and the time of year. The product page for each plant says which form it ships in.

Open the box the day it arrives, even if you cannot plant yet. Keep bare roots in their damp packing, shaded and out of the wind, and dampen the packing if it has dried. Plant within a day if you can, and within a week at most. To wait longer, heel the plants into damp soil or mulch. Water a potted plant and keep it shaded; it can wait weeks if watered. The bare-root arrival guide gives the reasons, and the ten planting mistakes article covers what to do next.

In the dormant season, from leaf drop until bud break, and never into frozen or waterlogged ground. That gives the roots months to grow before the tree has to support leaves. Container plants can go in through the growing season if you commit to watering; the first year of watering decides whether a tree establishes.

The watering calculator turns trunk size and the week's rain into a schedule.

No minimum for online orders. Shipping is priced per package, so a single small plant costs proportionally more to ship than a box of several; combine plants where you can.

Plants with a price: add them to your cart and pay by card at checkout. Payment is handled by Stripe; your card details never touch our systems. Plants without a price yet: send the form on this page or email captain@bluewhaletrees.com with the species, quantity and size you are after, and we reply with what is ready and current pricing.

Orders are tied to your email address; sign in with a one-time link from the account page to see them.

Acorns are alive and cannot be dried like vegetable seed. White-oak-group acorns (white, swamp chestnut, chinquapin and post oaks) start rooting within days of falling and should be planted or potted at once. Red-oak-group acorns (red, cherrybark, scarlet, willow and pin oaks) need one to three months of cold, damp storage before they germinate: keep them in a loosely closed bag with barely damp peat or sand in the refrigerator, not the freezer, and plant in spring. Discard any that have a small exit hole or feel light, and any that float, except overcup oak acorns, which float even when sound.

The planting acorns, nuts and seed guide covers each species we sell, from collecting to the first year.

Plants are inspected before they leave. If a plant arrives dead, badly damaged or not as described, email us a photo within 48 hours of arrival and we will fully replace it, credit it or refund it, at our choice depending on what is available. A replacement ships at our cost in the next window for that plant. A credit or refund covers the plant's full price, and the shipping too when every plant in the box arrived that way. Seed and acorns are sold with no guarantee of germination once they leave us, because storage and sowing decide the result.

The terms of sale hold the whole guarantee, and the shipping page says what to do when a box arrives.

Everything we sell is grown from seed, not grafted, so each plant is genetically distinct and a planting of ten carries real diversity. Where we collect from a named individual tree, chosen for size, form, vigor, health and hardiness, the product page names it, such as the Wye Island cherrybark oak line.

Read more on the about page and in the specimen lines.

Yes. Tell us your USDA zone or nearest town, the soil and sun where the tree will go, and what you want it to do: shade, screening, honey, fruit, a wet corner, a dry bank. We will suggest species and say what is ready. For tree questions, a photo of the whole tree, a close-up of the problem and a note on when it started help us answer quickly.

Or start with the tree finder and the habitat bundles.