St. Lawrence Nurseries NORTHERN CLIMATE FRUIT AND NUT TREES 2015 CATALOG Retirement Issue DEADLINE FOR SPRING SHIPMENT: APRIL 10TH POSTMARK 325 STATE HWY 345 POTSDAM, NEW YORK 13676 315-265-6739 E-mail––[email protected] World Wide Web––http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us WHAT IS YOUR USDA GROWING ZONE? Our trees are grown in a Zone 3/4 location where they have been tested against temperatures of -30o, -40o and occasion- ally even -50o F. (ambient temperature, no wind chill.) Most commercial nursery stock is grown in Zones 5 or warmer, where the coldest winter extremes are -20o F. A plant that is “hardy” only to -20o F. may, with luck, survive one or two mild winters in Zone 3 or 4, but will eventually winterkill. If this has happened to you, take heart! You don't have a “black thumb”; you just need varieties that are hardy enough. We rate our trees according to winter hardiness and guarantee their survival. Even if you live in USDA Zone 3 or 4, you can grow fruit and nut trees. All you need are the right varieties! St. Lawrence Nurseries Zone 3 . Thanks to Storey Communications, Inc., Schoolhouse Road, Pownal, VT 05261, for al- lowing the use of the North American Hardi- ness Zones map above. From The Big Book of Gardening Skills, © 1993, p. 168. We support the National Junior Horticulture Association, which promotes and sponsors educational programs for youth. Visit their website at www.njha.org. 2 OFF SEASON & BUSINESS HOURS St Lawrence Nurseries is a family farm and the homestead of Bill and Diana MacKentley. As such, we are usually here to receive visitors, but are outdoors much of the time from May through October. If you plan to stop by, call us at (315) 265-6739. You can leave a message on our machine, and we will return your call in the evening. For local customers, we do not fill orders on the spot...all orders, even those for pickup, must be received by our deadline of April 10. Although pre- ordered plants can be picked up at the nursery only during April, you are welcome to come any time of year to visit, see the various trees and edible shrubs that we grow, ask questions and give us your ideas. ABOUT OUR TREES Organically Grown Because we are committed to preserving the health of the air, water, WHO WE ARE & OUR RETIREMENT and soil, (and ourselves) we use no conventional herbicides, fungi- St Lawrence Nurseries was begun in the 1920's, and was originally cides or pesticides. Instead of artificial fertilizers, we rely on mulch, the endeavor of Fred L. Ashworth, of Heuvelton, NY, a farmer manure, and cover crops to boost soil and plant health. We use natural with an interest in growing and propagating fruits and nuts for immune boosters like compost tea to help our plants fight disease northern climates. Bill MacKentley met Fred in 1971, and within naturally. In our orchard, a regimen of Neem Oil and kaolin clay gives a few years they developed a relationship that became almost as us fruit that is safe to eat, delicious and nutritious. Rather than using strong as family ties. Fred was self-taught, but extremely mechanical digging machines, we hand-plant, hand-weed and hand- knowledgeable and well-read. During his lifetime he had tried dig all of our stock. many fruits and nuts in this northern climate, learning what survives and what winterkills here, and had recorded his What Our Trees are Not observations in single-space typed or laboriously hand-written Our trees are not like the trees that you often see lined up at your local pages. Fred traded information, scionwood and cuttings with other garden center in springtime: tall, beefy specimens grown in a plant-breeders in a forum of letters called a “round-robin” through favorable climate (Zones 5 to 7) and pushed with nitrogen fertilizers. organizations like NAFEX (North American Fruit Explorers) and Heavy reliance on chemical fertilizers produces a “top-heavy” tree NNGA (Northern Nut Growers Assn.) In addition to supporting with a disproportionately small root, which is then machine-dug his family through farm labor and working for the County on the (often cutting or damaging roots in the process) and shipped, first from road crew, Fred grafted and sold fruit trees in a small business he grower to wholesaler, then from wholesaler to retailer—a journey called St Lawrence Nurseries. When Fred died in 1977, we which often leaves the tree water-stressed. The root is encased in purchased the land where he had done much of his grafting and fertilizer-enhanced media and potted or wrapped in burlap, which the breeding in Potsdam, NY. In 1981, we produced our first St customer is instructed not to remove, making it impossible to deter- Lawrence Nurseries catalog. Now, 34 years later, we will be mine the condition of the tree's root system. Although trees should be ending our retail catalog sales after the 2015 Spring shipping planted when they are dormant, garden centers often sell them in full season. As we look forward to a quieter life in retirement on our leaf. Trees sold in this way are almost never covered by a guarantee. farm, we know that Fred's legacy lives on in the fruit /nut trees and edible plants that we have supplied to thousands of cold climate What Our Trees Are customers throughout the country. St Lawrence Nurseries may be Our trees are grown here in a northern climate (USDA Zone 3) because we are growing trees for northern climates. Trees that are carried on by younger people in the future, but there will probably o o be a gap in availability of our hardy fruit and nut trees/berry bushes unable to withstand temperatures of minus 30 to minus 40 F will not and edible landscaping plants for a year or two to allow for this survive our winters, and if we cannot grow it here, we don’t sell it. transition. However, trees do grow more slowly in cold locations with short Diana & Bill MacKentley growing seasons, and nurseries are not exempt from this law of nature. We do not “push” our trees with artificial fertilizers, but use natural OUR LOCATION methods to encourage an optimum growth rate. The result is a smaller, St. Lawrence Nurseries is located north of the village of Potsdam but “tougher” tree with a more balanced proportion of root to top, on Route 345. We are about 20 miles from the Canadian border in which will establish itself well and harden off properly before winter. the northernmost part of New York State. The USDA Plant If you live in USDA Zone 3 or 4, you've probably been disappointed Hardiness Zone Map at left designates our area as Zone 3 (-40o to before by trees that were proclaimed to be “cold hardy.” Where was -30o F. average annual minimum temp.) In the past, our region has the tree grown? A tree that has been through -40o F winters has proven experienced a number of “test” winters where readings have itself to be truly “cold hardy.” This means that a tree from our nursery reached -50o F. (actual temperature, no wind chill.) At these will grow for you even if you live in a severely cold climate, whereas temperatures, only truly hardy plants survive; more tender varieties a tree from a conventional nursery located in a warmer growing zone are weeded out. There are almost no other fruit and nut tree may winterkill or simply survive without much growth or fruit. Hardy nurseries growing their stock in a Zone 3 location. Most grow their trees are our specialty. stock in Zones 5, 6 or 7, where plants are never exposed to -50o, -40o or even -30o F. If you live in Zone 3 or 4, where these Guarantee temperatures are a fact of life, a plant that is “hardy” to only -20o As your supplier, our job is to ship you a healthy plant that is true to F. will sustain winter damage in spite of wraps or other heroic name and claim. As the customer, your job is proper planting, efforts. In contrast, our nursery stock will survive the toughest of mulching and regular watering of that plant, and protection from mice, climates. If we can’t grow it here, we don’t sell it. rabbits, deer and other plant-munching creatures. If a plant dies anytime within its first growing season, contact us. We will work with CATALOGS you to determine the fairest course of action. If it seems that the plant We produce our catalog on recycled paper, and send it to customers did not survive in spite of proper care on your part, we will replace it on our mailing list once a year (bulk mailing arriving in Jan/Feb, at no charge. In some cases, we may ask you to pay for shipping or additional requests sent out first class through early April). We do offer to split the cost of replacement with you. Tell us what went not sell or give away names from our mailing list. Remember wrong, and we'll try to help you figure out what you can do to when ordering to provide us with your winter mailing address for guarantee success with the next planting. catalogs if it is different from the address on the order blank. 3 APPLE TREES FOR NORTHERN CLIMATES APPLES Our apple trees, like many fruit trees, are propagated by grafting: joining a scion (which becomes the fruiting part, or top of the tree) to a rootstock (which DR(sfr) Disease Resistance: becomes the root of the tree.) This grafting allows the two In the “code” column of the parts to grow together and function as a single apple listing on pp.