A Craigslist template for getting free urban-dori

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My wife is going to love you for this idea... ‘why do we have 10 old bushes in sacks, piled up in the back yard?’

I browse CL for material occasionally. It’s not hard to find cheap homegrown nursery type material - but landscape digs are rare. This idea is next level. Thanks for sharing your creativity.
 

Fishyfish22

Seedling
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it's going to be winter soon, is right now really an OK time to uproot and put the trees in bags..?
 

TyroTinker

Shohin
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I personally would wait for a different time of year but I guess it’s better then the plants just getting dug up/ tossed or even poisoned by the owner.
Love this template! Thanks, I will be using it (with a couple adjustments) in the future
 
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it's going to be winter soon, is right now really an OK time to uproot and put the trees in bags..?

My nonsense hypothetical conversation with my wife in no way eluded to when or how I would be performing said operation.

🤦‍♂️

I was teasing, joking, making fun... enjoying the topic.
 

Sn0W

Shohin
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Dude! I used your template 2 days ago and I already got two bodwood, a privet, a Rhodie, a plum, japanese maple and a wisteria! I always had this idea but you pushed me to execute and it works like a charm! Thanks for the motivation
Pics or it didn't happen
 
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Despite being the less-than-desirable time of year I thought I’d try this. (It’s actually not feeling quite like fall yet here in California, was 97F yesterday) It’s worth a shot if they’re just going to chop everything down.

I’ve received about 10 replies in a couple days. (Surprising volume of responses). Most of them are garbage. Then today I got a picture. He wants everything gone. I spy some nice little JM’s that could work in the garden if not in a pot.

Commence project urban-dori. I’d be making fun of myself for doing this if I was an observer. Haha! It’s pretty funny and entertaining.

2B815FA5-59F9-4FD8-97FF-68BF430D1718.jpeg
 

Muchas_Plantas

Sapling
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Pics or it didn't happen


literally just finished potting everything this morning. in 2 days i dug:
3 monterey pine, a plum tree, a 50 year old escalonia stump which ended up being 3 seperate plants, a huge crimson japanese maple graft on a regular maple trunk with insane nebari, so with an air layer thatll be two trees eventually, a lemon tree, an old purple bougainvillea, and a pretty decent wisteria.

some were easy, some were tough, but they were all free and would have been removed and disposed of otherwise anyway. through these people ive also landed a couple jobs for my landscaping business so to OP: Thank you so much! this is a really sustainable, concious and considerate way to collect material, and you can find some great stuff. i also have a few gnarly juniper stumps to dig later as well!!
 

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Jcmmaple

Chumono
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Wow I am mind blown by this thread, I am definitely going to try this closer to spring. I would love to see more pictures of what’s been collected, I have some junipers I have been told I can dig 15-20yrs old. Also I’m a Japanese maple addict, I’m amazed people are just giving them away. I will try this, so yes thank you for sharing this info.
 
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Wow I am mind blown by this thread, I am definitely going to try this closer to spring. I would love to see more pictures of what’s been collected, I have some junipers I have been told I can dig 15-20yrs old. Also I’m a Japanese maple addict, I’m amazed people are just giving them away. I will try this, so yes thank you for sharing this info.

The owner from my pic doesn’t know what he’s cutting down, sounded clueless.

I’ll share what I get after my collecting is complete tomorrow. I’m pretty excited with anticipation.

The only hope is that someone doesn’t hijack my local CL with the same post! SHHHHH. I call dibs on my area. But I won’t say where. Haha!!
 

PABonsai

Chumono
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How are you guys vetting people and trees? I imagine free disposal posts get you hundreds of replies so I'm assuming most of the time you're telling the homeowner no. So how do you do that vetting?
 

canoeguide

Chumono
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How are you guys vetting people and trees? I imagine free disposal posts get you hundreds of replies so I'm assuming most of the time you're telling the homeowner no. So how do you do that vetting?

You don't really have to say "no" as you can just not respond to their message if it seems not worth it. I feel like if I did this I'd get a bunch of "please come clear my north 40/entire yard" which isn't the idea. But yeah, I'm curious too: how do you vet the responses?
 

PABonsai

Chumono
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You don't really have to say "no" as you can just not respond to their message if it seems not worth it. I feel like if I did this I'd get a bunch of "please come clear my north 40/entire yard" which isn't the idea. But yeah, I'm curious too: how do you vet the responses?
Well yeah that's my concern. I'd be afraid folks would see this and think "oh this guy is willing to clear out all my weeds for free." Or else you'd be getting folks with 15' half dead oaks calling up.
 
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How are you guys vetting people and trees? I imagine free disposal posts get you hundreds of replies so I'm assuming most of the time you're telling the homeowner no. So how do you do that vetting?

If the email reply sounds legit I ask them to text me some pics of what they need removed so I don’t have to travel around to inspect everything.

I just ran into this, verbatim, on my local CL 😥

That’s mine. Seriously. I don’t have much room left in my garden, so it won’t be up there long.

I called dibs! Haha!
 

Sn0W

Shohin
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I ask for pics when I post facebook ads. I also clarify that I said "woody", "Dig-able" or "replantable".
 

PABonsai

Chumono
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That’s mine. Seriously. I don’t have much room left in my garden, so it won’t be up there long.

I called dibs! Haha!
Maybe you two can tag team it. Much easier to dig with two people! Could always share the responses and take turns. There's enough trees to go around. 😋
 
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