How We Find New Varieties to Grow and Help Us Find More!

? MONTANA FRUIT TREE COMPANY HOW WE FIND NEW VARIETIES TO GROW AND HELP US FIND MORE! Hello Growers! Someone recently asked us, “How do you find out about the varieties that you end up growing?”. We thought about it and decided to share it here: * Cold climate analogs (wild) - We look to other cold climates, i.e. Canada, Russia, etc. If it works there, and they grow in the wild, they’ll likely work here. Oftentimes climate adapted genetics of fruit bearing trees, shrubs, and vines have been growing in the wild for millennia. These varieties have stood the test of time from a cold climate adaption standpoint. Let’s work with them! * Cold Climate Analogs (domesticated) - We also seek out cold climate analogs of domesticated varieties. Oftentimes these varieties have already been introduced. Such was the case when the Massachusetts Horticultural Society imported Tetofksy apple in 1835 from Russia. This was one of the first apples planted in Montana! An apple orchard in the colder area of Kashmir. Cold climate analog varieties are named varieties that are growing in cold climates similar to our own. These varieties may be bred, found and then domesticated, or introduced through other means. * Cold Climate Research Breeding Stations - Although this can overlap with cold climate analogs (domesticated), we search the varieties released by Research Breeding Stations (looking at you U. of Saskatchewan). Cold Climate Fruit Tree Research Breeding has played an integral part in providing climate adapted fruit genetics for cold areas. Whether it’s Russia, Canada, China, Eastern Europe, or the US, the economic and cultural significance of these introductions cannot be understated. * Fruit Exploration! (notice the exclamation point!) - This is perhaps the most fun way to find new varieties, that is, through exploration! Who doesn’t like exploring? This category makes us feel like we’re kids again (which we kind of are, but just bigger :) ). You can help us, too! If you know of a tasty or thriving wild fruit bearing tree shrub or vine (or even if it is an abandoned domesticated tree or an old tree no one knows the name of) please let us know by filling out THIS FORM HERE. Here are Plumcots that sprouted as chance seedlings on our friend Doug Hawes Davis’s property. A cross between an apricot and a plum, Doug named this tasty stone fruit Tipson Plumcot, after his late great pooch. By planting lots of native plants, Doug gets great pollination, fruit set, & potential for chance seedlings. He’s also an excellent filmmaker who, funny enough, just released a teaser for his new documentary on the importance of insects and pollinators. * Our Own Breeding - We won’t delve much into this here as we talked about this recently. This often involves taking genetics from all the previously discussed methods of finding out about these varieties. Here we are grafting some found varieties, such as the Montana Mango apricot (sorry not ready yet), which is a Manchurian apricot seedling that is very cold climate adapted (having survived -35F), and has a mango flavor! Lastly, in case you haven’t seen these on the site, we just added Dwarf Cherry Trees . These have been bred in the coldest research breeding outfit in the world at the University of Saskatchewan where it can reach below -50F! They’re very tasty! We have also added Evan’s Bali Tart Cherry, which are clones of the parent. Finally, we just added very hardy blackberries, too! Thanks for reading and happy weekend! MFTC Montana Fruit Tree Company 3200 Clark St. Missoula, Montana USA