updated 06/13/2021

Site description and contact

Hinsdale - MSU Extension Fruit Research Site location

This site is located in Hinsdale in Valley County at an elevation of 2,162 ft. To see locations of all MSU Extension Fruit Research Sites and Montana Heritage Orchards, visit this interactive web map. 

To coordinate a site visit, contact Shelley Mills, MSU-Extension, (406) 228-6241

Climate

These data originated from the nearest weather station in Saco, MT and were downloaded from NOAA's website. Note that elevation and environmental conditions may vary somewhat from the orchard site.

Weather Station
Elevation (ft)		 Average Total
Annual Precip (in)		 Annual Average
High (F)		 Average Annual
Low (F)		 Extreme High
Temp (F)		 Extreme Low
Temp (F)
2,182 16.8 83 2 97 -27

 Note: elevation and climate data are from the nearest weather station in Saco, MT.

See also: detailed climate data for all sites (opens in Figshare)

Management Practices

Irrigation

Fertility management

Weed management

Pruning

Deer issues?

Fireblight presence

Pest notes

flood irrigation as needed

none

field is mowed; sod goes right up to trees

none

yes

yes

no info

Cultivars Planted

Apple: 'Arkansas Black', 'Cox's Orange Pippin', 'Frostbite', 'Ginger Gold', 'Goodland', 'Goodmac', 'Gravenstein', 'Honeycrisp', 'Northern Lights', 'Prairie Magic', 'Sweet 16', 'Zestar!'

Pear: 'Golden Spice', 'Luscious', 'Parker', 'Patten', 'Ure'

Plum: 'Mount Royal', 'Pipestone', 'Toka'

See also: full list and descriptions of the fruit tree cultivars used in this research

Orchard notes and map

Site visit notes, 5/10/2019:

  • Trees were initially planted in May of 2013 and more in May 2014. No rootstock information is available.
  • Landowner said that the trees have struggled since the first planting date. The trees were planted late in the season and most of the originals died and were replaced.
  • Herbicide drift killed most trees on east facing rows.
  • Wind, deer, and hailstorms keep trees from producing.
  • Of the original plantings, the remaining trees are two ‘Prairie Magic’ apples, two ‘Arkansas Black’ apples, three ‘Zestar!’ apples, one ‘Goodland’ apple, three ‘Toka’ plums, and two ‘Honeycrisp’ apples.
  • No trees have yielded fruit as of 2018.

See the printable orchard maps and data for all sites (opens in Figshare).

Photo gallery

Hinsdale orchardHinsdale orchardHinsdale orchard

Click on an image to view as a slideshow.

Tree survival data, fall 2019

  Cultivar &
total surviving trees/total planted trees		 Total
planted		 Total
alive		 %
survival
Apple Arkansas Black Cox's Orange Pippin Frostbite Ginger Gold Goodland Goodmac      
  2/7 0/10 3/3 4/4 1/3 0/2      
  Gravenstein Honeycrisp Northern Lights Prairie Magic Sweet 16 Zestar!      
  0/3 0/3 0/3 0/4 0/3 3/3 48 13 27%
Pear Golden Spice Luscious Parker Patten Ure        
  0/3 0/3 0/3 0/3 0/3   15 0 0%
Plum Mount Royal Pipestone Toka            
  0/3 1/3 1/3       9 2 22%

 

See also: survival data for all sites in spreadsheet format (opens in Figshare)