Spring is Fast Upon Us, What Have We Been Up To?, and New Varieties!

? MONTANA FRUIT TREE COMPANY SPRING IS FAST UPON US, WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?, AND NEW VARIETIES! Hello Growers! Lots to report on as Spring is fast upon us. Firstly, we’re somehow finding time to write this newsletter, even though we’ve been doing millions of things the last couple weeks. As a nursery propagating our own trees for growers across the country, everything seems to collide within a 2 1/2 month period throughout the season. From mid-March to end of June, this means: * researching and sourcing genetics for next year * potting our germinated seeds * collecting cuttings * obtaining rootstock * grafting future trees * monitoring those grafts * sorting and grading the last of our inventory from last year * shipping out thousands of trees * planting out our grafted trees and lots more! Here is a collection of photos form all this activity. Here are our Siberian peaches that we started growing last month. It’s fun to think that were just seeds, and before we know it, they’ll be full size peach trees that will bear peaches where no other peach tree will survive. And do so for decades to come! These are apple wood cuttings form a 100 year old dying apple tree in Darby, MT. One of our initiatives is to collect wood from dying old apple trees that were planted 100 plus years ago and provide them for people in corollary, harsh climates. Often these apple trees have survived in drought stressed, cold conditions since before Montana became a state. Often these are seedling apples that are genetically unique, and must be preserved! Here we are taking those buds and grafting them onto rootstock so that we can preserve those genetics. Stay tuned as these trees will be listed in a few weeks on the website for order in the Fall. Here are the baby grafts! In due time these will be mature enough to ship out. We use masking tape and a wax mixture to seal the grafts and make sure that they take. We then closely monitor the temperature of the grafts because different trees will form callous tissue at different temperatures. For apples and plums, it is 55 degrees. For peaches and nectarines, its 85 degrees. For apricots, 75 degrees, and so on. In due time, our trees will be large and in charge. And ready to be planted! These trees will then be boxed up and ready to be shipped (or picked up) across the country! Sometimes we even do the shipping ourselves! Although only in small amounts this year. Thanks everyone for reading. For those who have orders with us, sit tight a little longer. We are done sorting and grading next week and we start shipping April 15th. That will happen for a whole month. For those who don’t have an order, check us out at www.montanafruittrees.com. And stay tuned for more new inventory to drop that we’ll be releasing from our own discoveries along with our own bred varieties. Happy Growing! MFTC Montana Fruit Tree Company 3200 Clark St. Missoula, Montana USA