Have I paid too much?

[new gardener 1052]

Evening all...
I recently planted a few fruit trees and paid £30 per tree. From my local dobbies garden centre. But during a shopping trip to lidl earlier this evening I noticed they are selling large apple/cherry/plum/pear trees all standing about 7-8ft tall looking in good condition even starting to fruit. For £19.00 & some smaller ones for £6 per tree. The even had some trees that grow two types of apple one one tree.

[veggiechicken]

Too many variables to say whether you paid too much - like rootstock, variety, age.
Lidl/Aldi trees tend to be the more common varieties.

[new gardener 1052]

Too many variables to say whether you paid too much - like rootstock, variety, age.
Lidl/Aldi trees tend to be the more common varieties.

Yeah I guess so. I know the varieties I have bought but has for age & rootstock I couldn't tell you. I'm sure on the tree label that information was on but I'm put the label in the bin after I planted them. I did notice on the Lidl trees the label information was very little English on it just apple/cherry/plum etc...

[Nicos]

Yeh.....and sometimes you buy a cheap tree and it's not even the same species as it says on the label!
Nope....I didn't really want a damson tree Thankyou!

[boundtothesoil]

I wouldn't beat yourself up too much about paying over the odds for fruit trees, as long as it doesn't become a habit.. Sometimes, when I've paid too much for a tree I take a couple of scions off it and graft them on to rootstocks (costing a couple of quid each), then regard myself as having got a 'three for one' deal. It restores a modicum of self esteem.

However, you'd probably get a better deal than £30 for a good quality tree from a number of specialist nurseries.

[Hazel at the Hill]

In the lifetime of your trees, any 'over the odds' that you may have paid will pale into insignificance.

Yes, we all love a bargain, but what if further down the line (?years) you find that the cheapy is not on the rootstock that you thought you'd paid for, or the variety isn't 'prolific supersweet yum yum' but 'sets your teeth on edge grudgingly fruiting'.

Don't beat yourself up over it.