March Madness
March in the orchard
March wanderings:
March is here, as we know it has been a very strange winter so far. Last month we had highs in the 50’s to the low teens and night time lows from the 40’s to below zero here at our orchard.
We walk around the place several times a week looking at the plants and just checking things out in general, we are fairly sure all the plants survived. The big question is how are the flower buds doing. With out flowers this spring we will have very little fruit. It happened in 2024 with a late freeze that froze flower buds and killed trees.
Enough gloom and doom. It is nice outside and we want to get going on spring chores. We have to remember not to get too excited, we don’t want to start pruning just yet. We typically start the end of March and finish the first week in April. Our orchard is small enough that a week is more than enough time. People who have more plants quite often have to start earlier. More plants more time.
When we have questions these days, we contact Montana’s local researchers at Montana State University. Montana State University has research facilities spread out all over our big wonderful state. Each center has a specialty, from beef and cattle to row crops to pasture management to fruits and more. The Western Agriculture Research Center (WARC) in Corvallis Montana specializes in fruit production. They do a lot of research on specialty fruit and cold hardy wine grapes (they make amazing wine and there are over fifteen wineries here in our state). Some of the fruits they do research on are haskaps/honey berries, and aronia berries to name some of the less well known. Fortunately, or unfortunate they are experiencing weather much like ours this year.
We are attending the annual Montana Berry Growers Association conference later this month it will be a great chance to talk to the knowledgeable staff from WARC in person. The staff are always willing to answer questions from the anyone, you don’t have to be a professional grower. They want to help everyone; no one is too big or too small. We all started, with the desire to grow something.
We wish we had known Montana state’s research facilities earlier it would have saved us a lot of time, effort and money reinventing the wheel, they have already made all the mistakes and can help you avoid them. We are going to pick their brains for advice for pruning this year. It is always great to have access to knowable people. They don’t charge to answer questions and they want everyone to succeed. They are a great resource before you start to plant, as well as after.
I know I rambled a bit, probably a lot. Sometimes I just have to reassure myself that I’m not as crazy and there are many others experiencing the same questions and problems that I am. There are many resources out there for us to take advantage of: other growers, extension agents, research stations, associations and even printed and on-line publications.
The weather may be crazy but the desire to plant and grow is my place of sanity.