Meet Karsten Nursery | Trusted Growers of Premium Trees

HISTORY

Karsten Nursery is a small family-owned production nursery that was founded more than 40 years ago in the early 1980's by Glen Karsten, and now sells a variety of trees and shrubs to customers all over the United States. Glen was a hard-working farmer, mechanic, entrepreneur and nurseryman, with a keen eye for new introductions. He was raised on the family farm south of Worthington, Minnesota, where the nursery has been for more than 40 years. Glen and his wife raised four children with a traditional midwestern American work ethic. They're proud to continue serving all the customers of Karsten Nursery in honor of their dad, who unfortunately passed away in 2021.

A NEW CULTIVAR

Karsten Nursery developed a hybrid of an amazing new cultivar of Salix matsundana x alba in the 1990's and has produced clones of that original cultivar selection since then. Trademarked as the SuperTree® they began to propagate this cultivar and sell it as a replacement for other less desirable windbreak trees, such as the Honeysuckle or the Dogwood.The Hybrid SuperTree has one amazing characteristic; it grows extremely quickly. It requires little water once established and produces a densely branched character near the base of the tree with multi stemmed branching from the main trunk. These characteristics make the SuperTree a great wind break, visual, sound, dust barrie, even in the winter when the leaves drop, the thick branching makes it effective. Adding nitrogen fertilizer around the drip line of these trees creates rapid growth, and they easily reach 20 feet tall and 10 feet wide in three years. This amazing growth rate is highly desirable for a windbreak tree. Farmers and ranchers love this species because it's possible to plant them across a field and within a short time have a wonderful thick hedge row to stop the wind and snow. If a visual barrier is the objective, the SuperTree makes a wonderful separation from an undesirable view, a neighbor's mess, or a new housing development being buildt out your back door. Even in winter, the dense branch structure provides a visual break especially from a distance.

TODAY

Today, Karsten Nursery is run by Glen's son, Joel Karsten, who is proud to carry on his dad's legacy of supplying quality windbreak stock at a great price to customers nationwide. Joel is a Certified Nursery and Landscape Professional through the Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association, with a BS in Horticulture Science from the University of Minnesota. He has been a long-serving member of the Board of Directors for the Minnesota State Horticultural Association and often volunteers for his alma mater as well. Joel has a strong foundation of skills in Landscape Design, Gardening and Teaching Horticulture. He is also a published author of international best-selling books published in multiple languages with Quarto Publishing Company, based in the UK. You can visit StrawBaleGardenClub.com or watch Joel's recent TEDx Talk to learn more about these accomplishments.If you have questions about what trees to plant in which locations, general horticulture questions, or how well a particular tree will grow where you are located, contact Joel.

SuperTree® GROWS FAST

Suburban homeowners also love this species as it provides an attractive visual barrier from neighbors, without the time, expense and maintenance required with installing a fence. The Hybrid SuperTree is also somewhat drought tolerant once established, doesn't require pruning, and has very few insect or disease problems. The popularity of this HYBRID SuperTree means Karsten's little nursery now ships them all over the USA and Canada. After selling many hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs throughout the US and Canada, Karsten Nursery has more than 40,000 happy customers, many who have returned to purchase again and again. Referrals have helped the nursery grow quickly, when the friends and neighbors of our customers ask where they purchased the beautiful new trees. While the SuperTree is the cultivar Karsten Nursery is most well known for, they do offer 120 additional species of trees, shrubs and conifers. Please note however, that they DO NOT SELL SINGLE TREES. If you need one tree for your yard, Karsten Nursery is not for you, they ONLY SELL IN BUNDLES. The bundle size will vary with size and species from 5 trees to 50 trees per bundle. They WILL NEVER SPLIT A BUNDLE, so if you would like to purchase a full bundle quantity you might consider splitting it with a neighbor. You should check prices and compare the cost of Karsten's trees, per tree with any other nursery you find online or locally. They encourage you to shop around and then come visit us to purchase. It is important that you understand how Karsten's Tree guarantee works before purchasing. They do not offer a retail type warrantly where people return plants six months after planting and the retailer gives them a full refund. Karsten's offeres a standard wholesale tree nursery guarantee of healthy and viable stock delivered in good growing condition. Claims for dead, diseased or damaged stock are rare, but any claim placed within 72 hours of delivery will be processed for return and replacement. Glen Karsten had a moto, "we want happy customers, so we will do what we need to do to make them happy to do business with us." We provide unlimited advice on how to plant or care for trees purchased from us. Each box shipped contains written instructions for planting and care with illustrations. We want our customers to be successful, so let us help you if you have questions at any point in the buying, planting or care of your trees.

SPRINGTIME AT THE NURSERY

Spring is a very busy time at the nursery, so please be patient if you need to leave a message. Staff will get back to you as quickly as possible. Normally the nursery begins taking orders by November 1st, for the following spring. Once inventory is available in the online SHOP you can begin placing orders online. If you'd rather call or email, orders can be placed that way. Get in touch early to confirm your order in advance and assure stock is available. Because inventory is limited and does sell out, often before Spring arrives, the early bird does get the worm in this case.

HOW TO PLACE AN ORDER?

The easiest way for you to order is to use our SHOP here online. We strive to keep the inventory up to date, and once an order is placed and paid for, that inventory will be assigned to the customer and no longer available for sale. Bare-root nursery stock will begin to ship in March based on the zip code provided, we will time your shipment for the appropriate week for earliest planting. Shipments of bare-root stock will continue through May, and sometimes into June depending on weather and inventory. The SuperTree is offered in bare-root, and in PLUGS. The plugs are similar to a containerized tree, except the container is about the size of a soda can and is wrapped with a mesh material that dissolves after planting. These trees grown in plugs ship in full leaf and already growing, so they begin shipping in May after last frost in Minnesota and ship until October or when inventory is sold-out. Shipping is often delayed in hot summer months to insure shipments arrive in good condition. See more info about shipping under FAQ's on this website.

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