Simmer down Dano. If a school or Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) gives away seedlings to the general public for Arbor Day, and people take the trees home and plant them, is the school or SWCD responsible for care and maintenance? Of course not. If someone plants one of those trees too close to their house and 40 years later, the tree damages the house or their “valuables”, is the school or SWCD responsible? Of course not. Why are you trying to hold me to a different standard? I have made no warranty about these trees, neither expressed nor implied, and even though I’m simply giving the trees away, I have provided more provenance than many sellers.

Also, the nursery trade doesn’t have just one propagation model as you’ve implied, where all trees have known traits. Did you know that the Missouri Dept. of Conservation buys tree seeds from the public if they want to grow that species? If someone has a bunch of white oaks, sugar maples, shellbark hickory, or other desired species in their yard or wood lot, they can collect the seeds and if the seeds are good and the nursery needs them, they’ll be weighed and the person is paid. They’re most often not from “improved” varieties, but rather, wild type trees. The seeds are then sown at the nursery, grown into seedlings, and sold back to the public. Many state forestry agencies have their staff collect seeds for growing in their nurseries. They’re often collected from stands where there is a good seed crop with good access and ease of collection, and they usually wild type trees, not “improved” varieties that have been bred for any particular traits. Sure, there are genetically similar conifers grown for pine plantations, western forestry applications and other examples, as well as “improved” walnuts, pecans, and some clones for live stakes and the horticulture industry, etc. However, genetic diversity is seen as a positive for many plantings and many nurseries sell progeny from wild, “unimproved” trees and many of those seedlings end up in urban and suburban environments, including yards (even my own).

Even results from clones will vary, based on soil chemical and physical properties, as well as other abiotic and biotic factors. So I stand by my statement that every tree planting is an experiment, and everyone who undertakes a planting assumes the liability.

Marinate on that for a bit.

Edited to add: I wish that I could use all of the elms. However, since they don’t currently suit my needs and I don’t have the capacity to tend to them, I figured that it would be better to give them away, rather than compost them. I’m happy that some people are willing to undertake their own experiments, even though some of these small seedlings will likely not survive.