Hearty fruits

Photo courtesy Western ag research center Apples have been growing in the Bitterroot and other areas in Montana for over a century. Selecting the right cultivars, can be just as important as selecting the right fruit. Michael Billingsley has experimented with over 50 cider apple varieties, in his 10-acre Stevensville orchard, to determine what will make the best hard cider in Montana.

Finding fruits that are rugged enough for Montana

ZACh MIllER WARC AssOCIATE PROfEssOR/sUPERINTENDENT KATRINA MENDREY WARC ORChARD PROgRAM MANAgER

With Montana’s rugged growing conditions, not all types of fruits will thrive, but there are many that fruit trees, vines, and bushes will. Adding to this challenge is that climates and soils vary widely from location to location. It’s a matter of matching your local climate and soil with types of plants that are well adapted to handle those conditions.

“Montana’s climate can be pretty unforgiving, but if growers follow some simple rules for establishment and select the right fruit, for the right site there are some great options that are unique, healthy and delicious,” says Dr. Zach Miller, Superintendent at the MSU Western Agricultural Research Center in Corvallis where much of Montana’s fruit research is conducted.

“It’s more than just planting winter-hardy plants,” Miller said. “The plant hardiness zone listed for a variety only lets you know the cold it can withstand in the middle of the winter when the plant is fully dormant. But much of the cold injury that we see in Montana occurs in the fall and the spring. Like last fall when temperatures stayed mild for much of September and October then plummeted to below zero at the end of October. In the winter, we’ll get a few warm weeks that trick plants into thinking it’s spring. They start to bud out and temperatures will drop, damaging the plants. The ability to withstand this type of cold is not on the tags at the nursery.”

Cold-hardy berries tend to avoid the fall and spring cold injury as they can withstand cold temperatures early in the growing season and ripen their fruit early, giving them plenty to time to get ready for the winter. “It’s a ‘what grows here’ approach to farming,” says Mark Rehder, owner of Geyser Farms outside Livingston, MT. “I grow currants because they’re short, stocky and can withstand the wind.”

Rehder grows one acre of mostly black and some red cur-

rants to make kombucha, a value-added drink sold locally.

His success, however, goes beyond just choosing the right plant but also doing his research upfront to make good decisions before establishing a crop. “I always approach skilled growers when I get to a new area to discuss their success and failures,” says Rehder.

Currants aren’t the only Montana-grown berries that can hold up to Montana’s growing conditions.

Haskaps, also know as Honeyberries, and Saskatoons, know locally as Serviceberries, are cold hardy berries that have long been coveted for their high levels of antioxidants and flavor in countries like Canada, Korea, Russia and Japan, but grow well in Montana too.

Both are native to Montana and other Northern regions across the globe and have been cultivated for flavor and size to become an alternative for blueberries on soils with higher pH, like many Montana soils.

“These berries are incredibly hardy” says Bridgid Jarrett, WARC’s berry program manager, “This last year we saw cold injury from the sudden fall drop in temperatures in many apples, raspberries, and grapes, but these cold hardy berries were hardly touched by it.”

Since 2011, Corey and Noelle Meier have been experimenting with various varieties of both Haskaps and Saskatoons.

“We jumped into planting before we were really ready, which resulted in failure,” cautions Noelle Meier.

Deer ate many of the unprotected plants and what were left of their first planting succumbed to weeds, ground squirrels, and poor water management.

“We can’t claim to be experts in how to grow Haskaps and Saskatoons, but feel pretty confident that we know many ways to fail,” she says.

Like many fruit growers however, the Meiers have persevered to learn from their mistakes. With a proper deer fence, a well-designed irrigation system and more knowledge about managing weeds and rodents, the Meiers are looking to expand their orchard to share their passion for these cold hardy berries with other Montanans.

“It’s a rare thing to find something that’s good for us, that also tastes good,” says Meier who describes Haskaps as a “cross between a blueberry and a blackberry with the tang of a huckleberry.”

The Meiers are hopeful that Montanans will find Haskaps and Saskatoons as delicious as they do and plan to expand their two-acre orchard near Twin Bridges to 11 acres by 2025.

“By growing two acres per year, it’s affordable financially, but also lets us plant the newest and best cultivars,” says Meier of the decision. Their current favorites are Smokey and Northline Saskatoons and Aurora Haskaps with Tundra as a pollinator. AG

Agriculture Magazine, Summer, 2021 - Page 15

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Apples have been growing in the Bitterroot and other areas in Montana for over a century. Selecting the right cultivars, can be just as important as selecting the right fruit.

Michael Billingsley has experimented with over 50 cider apple varieties, in his 10-acre Stevensville orchard, to determine what will make the best hard cider in Montana.

“There wasn’t a lot of information when I planted the orchard in 2012,” says Billingsley. “I’ve had to whittle it down through trial and error, and a lot of error.”

While he’s has a few favorites like Hewe’s Virginia Crab, Wickson and Frequin Rouge, he also has determined a few he just won’t grow again like Harry Masters Jersey and Sommerset Redstreak due to fire blight, a major pathogen of apples and in particular cider varieties.”

The location and microclimate are also critical for many fruit types.

“Cold injury in the fall and spring is often a matter of a few degrees,” says Katrina Mendrey, orchard program manager at WARC. “Colder air is denser and sinks to the valley floor, so being up on the benches can make the difference between a bumper crop and no crop at all.”

Grapes can also be grown in Montana. Breeding efforts in the last few decades have produced varieties that can survive 25 to 30 below temperature, but unlike other fruits, grapes require a long warm growing season to fully ripen the fruits.

Amy Darling, vineyard program manager at WARC, explains, “Grapes are mainly grown in the warmer areas of the state. In Western Montana, the summers are cooler than Eastern Montana, and the vineyards along the Yellowstone River often harvest weeks before the vineyards in the western valleys. In the West, we harvest right before the first frost and in some years the grapes aren’t as sweet as we’d like.”

MSU Western Agricultural Research Center works with fruit growers, to not only learn from their experience to help future growers but also develop projects that will assist them in the future.

“We listen to growers’ needs and lessons learned to develop research and resources that will help them be productive and profitable going forward,” says Dr. Miller.

Since 2014, Dr. Miller with support from a growing staff and horticultural professor, Dr. Rachel Leisso, has been actively researching the best fruit species and cultivars for fruit production in Montana. Cultivar research trials include nearly 70 varieties of aronia, red and black currants, haskaps, dwarf sour cherries, cider apples and cold-hardy grapes. The purpose of evaluating select cultivars of these fruits is to determine which ones will yield the highest quality fruits in Montana both for fresh markets and also value-added products like wine, cider, juices and preserves. In addition to helping growers select which cultivars to grow, the station is also conducting research on how to manage and harvest crops for maximum yields and profits.

As plants continue to mature the WARC is expanding its research program from cultivar evaluation to other aspects of growing fruit. Dr. Leisso, who recently left WARC, has been an important resource for helping the program grow bringing expertise in disease control and fruit quality.

This past year with the help of Specialty Crop Block grants from the Montana Department of Agriculture, the WARC added projects focused on developing recommendations for irrigation in cold-hardy grapes, grazing management in orchards and expand resources to track climate and weather patterns to help select optimal growing sites, understand tree fruit phenology and predict diseases like fire blight.

In addition, the WARC has been experimenting with mechanical harvesting in berries and cider apples.

“We know there are fruits cold-hardy enough to withstand Montana’s winters,” says Miller. “But we have other barriers here to larger-scale production like labor. We are addressing these challenges through our research by helping growers select management systems that are feasible and profitable.”

For more information on WARC’s research programs, results from recent studies, and resources for growing your own fruit in Montana visit their website at http://agresearch. montana.edu/warc/. AG

Photo courtesy Western ag research center Dr. Leisso in fruit lab, testing haskap berries

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Considerations for Growing Fruit in Montana

Climates are varied in Montana and successful fruit growing requires matching the type of fruit with your local climate.

Know your zone. A plant’s ability to withstand cold winter temperatures is rated using USDA Cold Hardiness Zones. The lower the zone number, the colder the average minimum winter temperature and the more cold-hardy plants are required. Montana includes Zones 3-6 with a majority of the state in Zone 4. If you don’t know your zone go to https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov to find out and only select plants cold hardy to that zone. Haskaps, can be rated as low as Zone 2. Most other fruits require Zone 3-5.

Sunlight: Most fruits need 6-8 hours of sunlight to develop and ripen fruit.

Growing season: Some fruits, like grapes, require long warm summers that only regularly occur in a few areas of Montana. Also, fruits can be vulnerable to frosts especially during bloom. If lows in the 20s occur while apples are blooming the crop will be lost, but fruits like haskap/ honeyberries can withstand lows in the teens.

Water: Mature berries need approximately 8 to 10 gallons of water per week. Tree fruit and grapes need about 10-60 gallons of water per week depending on their size and soil conditions.

Soil: Soil pH is an important factor in nutrient availability and is ideally in the range of 6.0-7.0 for most fruits.

Wind: High winds can be hard on all plants in particular trees. If you live in a windy area consider stockier shrubs instead of tree fruits. If you do select a tree fruit, choose a standard rootstock which is better anchored or at a minimum stake trees on dwarfing rootstocks to provide additional support.

Which Cultivars: Once you know which options are available in your location, consider what you would like to eat and what you want to do with the fruit. Then talk to local growers, your county Extension Agent or visit WARC’s website to learn about cultivars best suited for Montana growers. AG