2027 Planting Plan

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Status: recommended, not bought, not grafted, not planted. The first 16 spots (the Urban-apple, dead-tree, and east-end apple spots in R4 to R11) were reviewed with you. The shared stone-fruit rows R11 and R12 follow your October 18 choice of four plums, two apricots, and four peaches. The rest (the R1 grafts, the east-end cherries, and the Seckel pear) are first recommendations that you can change. The planned trees are not counted as pollen partners on the pollination grid until they are in the ground.

At a glance

Buy list

Rows are listed south to north and columns east to west, as in the planting map: C1, the west end of each row beside the windbreak, is on the right, and C13, the east end by the driveway, is on the left. Every other row is staggered half a spot. Where it works, same-cultivar trees sit side by side for signage and easy picking. The west end of R1 (on the right) holds the Chestnut crabapple because that end has the fewest pollen partners, and the east end of the apple rows (on the left) holds three different apples for the same reason.

planned 2027 cultivar code a graft onto a rootstock you own (R1) a spot held for a dead or relocated tree tree already on hand, by its code.

Codes: .

Pollination check

Using the pollination grid's rules: partners are other cultivars within 50 ft that bloom in the same or an adjacent period and are compatible (apples: diploid donors whose flowering group is within one of the tree's own; cherries and pears: the bloom charts on the grid page). Living trees and the other planned trees count. Tart cherries, plums, and peaches are self-fertile and need no partner.

Season fit

Bands are relative to each fruit's own harvest in a cool northern climate (apples: Early before about Sept 10, Mid about Sept 10 to Oct 5, Late about Oct 5 to 25, Very late after Oct 25; see the guide for the others). Unidentified trees, bushes with no band, and trees whose profile gives no band are counted as not banded.

Why these picks

The site

About 4,750 ft, nearly flat; Simonton loam with soil pH about 6.2; 12 to 16 in of precipitation, with July and August almost dry (see the water-harvesting plan).
In general, bloom-frost risk runs worst to best from apricot to peach, sweet cherry, pear, and apple (a general horticultural ranking, not something measured here). That is why apples carry the plan and the stone-fruit and pear picks are chosen for hardiness: late bloom, frost-tolerant buds, or a hardy species. The two apricots are the exception: you asked for them, they are the riskiest picks in the plan, and they are planned as a trial.

What a U-pick orchard needs

Fruit people eat off the tree or take home for pies and jam, a harvest that stretches over weeks (the orchard had four early apples), trees small enough to pick without ladders, and few sprays. That points to semi-dwarf trees and disease-resistant cultivars.
Sweet cherries and European pears are the harder U-pick crops (birds and splitting; pears are picked hard and ripen off the tree), so they are kept to a modest share of the plan.

Apples: the bought trees and the R1 grafts

The 13 bought apples (R4 to R6) fill the thin early band with disease-resistant cultivars and give every tree at least three pollen partners nearby.
R1 is the row held for grafting onto the rootstocks you own, so its 13 trees are scionwood, not nursery trees. Its six cultivars favor early and mid-season fruit, strong disease ratings where Purdue's table covers them, and scionwood that nurseries list for 2027. Redfree is vigorous, so two of its three trees go on the EMLA 7 rootstocks; lower-vigor scions such as Pixie Crunch suit the vigorous M-111.
One of the 14 rootstocks you own is left over after the 13 grafts. Keep it as a spare for a graft that fails or a later replacement.

Cherries at the east end of R9 and R10 (10 spots)

Seven of the ten are tart or tart-type (Surefire, Meteor, Carmine Jewel). They are hardy, bloom late, and are self-fertile. In the Intermountain West, sweet cherry is the main host of bacterial canker (Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide), and nearly all of the orchard's sweet cherries are flagged as positive (see the canker note below). WSU's work lists Sweetheart, Bing, Staccato, Royal Ann, and Van as susceptible cultivars and Mazzard and Colt as the more resistant rootstocks.
The three sweet ones (two Skeena and one WhiteGold) are self-fertile, so they need no partner this far from the Bing trees, and should be bought on Mazzard. No trial rates either for canker, and WhiteGold's resistance is only a nursery claim. Treat the 10 cherries as a two- or three-winter trial before copying the mix.

Plums and a Seckel pear (5 spots)

You asked for four plums, two apricots, and four peaches in the shared stone-fruit rows R11 and R12. That keeps the ten spots the plan already had there (the seven gaps between the apricot, plum, and peach blocks, and the three spots of the dead peaches) and changes what goes in them. Texas A&M AgriLife says bacterial canker can affect all stone fruit but cherries, peaches, and apricots are the most susceptible, so plums are the safer addition to the shared rows. All three plum cultivars are self-fertile European types, because the pollination rules cannot pair plums and the Japanese and hybrid plums need a partner the orchard does not have. The orchard has only the three Italian plums, now together at R11-C6, R12-C5, and R12-C6 after your October 18 move, so the four new plums go on either side of them: Mount Royal at R11-C7 and R12-C7 (the spots you held for plums), Stanley at R12-C3, and the Damson at R12-C4.
Stanley is a favorite for U-pick but Penn State lists it as very susceptible to black knot (Damson is listed with some resistance), so the plan has one Stanley, not three, in the lowest plum spot, where its late bloom helps it miss spring frost. Wild chokecherry and plum within about 500 ft make black knot worse; prune knots out in winter.
Seckel is a small, very sweet, fire-blight-resistant pear that ripens in September, with a mid-season bloom that overlaps Comice. It has fewer partners nearby than most trees here (only Comice at 18 ft), which is a known weak point.

Apricots at R11-C4 and R11-C5 (2 spots)

Both picks are self-pollinating, so they need no partner, and both are described as blooming late: Utah State says the Chinese (Mormon) "blooms late avoiding damage from late frost" and is hardy to zone 4, and Stark Bro's calls Harcot frost-hardy and late-blooming, with good tolerance to bacterial spot and perennial canker. They take the two highest of the open gap spots that were not held for plums, in R11, which lidar puts about 0.7 ft above R12 at the same columns. Cold air drains downhill, so the higher row should see a little less of it (not measured on your lot). They sit beside the five apricots you already have (R11-C1 to R11-C3 and R12-C1 to R12-C2), so the apricot block stays together.
The two ripen at different times (late June to July for the Chinese (Mormon), mid July for Harcot), and Harcot is the sweet, juicy, rich-flavored one. You already have a Giant Tilton (R11-C3; Utah State's entry for plain Tilton calls it very hardy and resistant to late frost), a Harcot (R12-C1), two Moorparks, and one unidentified apricot, so this adds an earlier apricot and a second Harcot to compare.
Treat the apricots as a trial. They are the stone fruit most hurt by spring frost, and nothing measured on your lot shows how its cold air behaves (the site climate page lists this among the things still to check). Log first bloom, full bloom, and any frost damage on each apricot next spring.

Peaches at R11-C10, R11-C12, R12-C11, and R12-C8 (4 spots)

Three peaches (J.H. Hale, Canadian Harmony, and Blazing Star) died in their pots before planting, so they say nothing about how peaches do on the site. Every one had been flagged for bacterial canker, which is why the peach picks lean on cold hardiness and disease resistance, not on novelty. All four picks are self-fertile, so no pollination pairing is needed.
Intrepid (R11-C10) is the bud-hardy mid-season pick. Harrow Diamond (R12-C11) fills an earlier window: the University of Kentucky lists it about 11 days before Redhaven, rated Good for hardiness and bacterial spot resistance. Contender (R11-C12) is the second hardy mid-season tree: Kentucky rates its hardiness above Harrow Diamond's, and both above Redhaven's, and Utah State lists it as very cold hardy and tolerant of spring frost. Together with the Reliance and Redhaven you already have, they spread the harvest over several weeks.
Reliance (R12-C8) is the fourth, the safe early tree: very cold-hardy, with very hardy fruit buds and late bloom (zone 4 to 8), planted beside the Reliance at R12-C9. It is soft and bruises easily, and Gurney's says newer hardy peaches such as Contender taste better, so it is the reliable choice, not the best-tasting one.
Ask for Lovell or Bailey peach seedling rootstock. Penn State's summary of the NC-140 rootstock trials found peach rootstocks survived best, while non-peach and hybrid rootstocks suffered cold injury in the Midwest and bacterial canker in the Southeast.

Bacterial canker in the stone fruit

Suggestions not followed

Encore peach topped the first round of research for being the latest ripener. It ripens in fall, after Elberta, which is already a gamble here, so Intrepid replaces it.
Krymsk 86 rootstock was suggested for Intrepid. UC Davis lists it as a peach and myrobalan plum hybrid, and Penn State's summary of the NC-140 trials found hybrid rootstocks more prone to cold injury and canker than peach seedling stocks, so the plan says Lovell or Bailey.
Gisela 6 cherry rootstock was suggested for Black Gold. The Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide and WSU both list Gisela 6 among the most canker-susceptible rootstocks and Mazzard among the least, so the plan says Mazzard.

Alternates and what to avoid

Spots	Picked	Alternates	Avoid
13 bought apples (R4 to R6)	Williams' Pride, Priscilla, Dayton, Freedom, Haralson, Pristine	Honeygold is a poor fit (fire blight very susceptible, rust susceptible, junipers on site).	Braeburn: susceptible to scab, fire blight, rust, and mildew, and needs a long warm fall (one Braeburn is already in the orchard plan at R2-C2).
13 grafted apples (R1)	Chestnut crabapple, Redfree, Akane, Sansa, Novamac, Pixie Crunch	State Fair was dropped: both the University of Minnesota and Cummins call it very susceptible to fire blight. Extra Honeycrisp or Zestar for name recognition were not added because the orchard already has them.	Cosmic Crisp: patented and licensed to Washington growers until at least 2032, so it cannot be grafted at home, and WSU describes it as bred for a long Eastern Washington season.
R8-C1 and R8-C13 pears	Harrow Delight, Seckel	Potomac; Magness (pollen-sterile, so it needs a partner and pollinates nothing). The hardiest pears (Luscious, Gourmet, Ure, Patten) were set aside as hardier than this site needs and mostly not self-fertile.	Pineapple again (the first one died in its pot before planting)
R9-C2 cherry	Black Gold on Mazzard	WhiteGold or Skeena, the east-end picks below (both self-fertile, so they would add a second pollen source for Bing only if they bloom with it).	Royalton again (it died in its pot before planting, and was flagged for canker); Gisela 6 rootstock
10 east-end cherries (R9, R10)	Surefire, Meteor, Carmine Jewel, Skeena, WhiteGold	Regina with Hedelfingen (not self-fertile, so they need each other, but WSU lists Regina among the more canker-resistant cultivars); Balaton in place of Meteor (richer flavor, but only partly self-fertile and a higher brown rot risk).	Sweetheart: self-fertile and popular, but WSU lists it as canker-susceptible with Bing and Royal Ann.
R11-C10, R11-C12, R12-C11, and R12-C8 peaches	Intrepid, Contender, Harrow Diamond, Reliance	Veteran (Raintree's hardiest peach, late-blooming, but UC Davis puts it a week before Elberta, a timing this plan already treats as a gamble); another Redhaven for a second safe early tree.	Encore (ripens too late); J.H. Hale, Canadian Harmony, and Blazing Star again (they died in their pots before planting, and all three were flagged for canker); Madison (Kentucky lists it 21 to 25 days after Redhaven, and says its fruit drops when ripe); Glohaven (Utah State: more susceptible to spring frost); hybrid rootstocks such as Krymsk 86.
R11-C4 and R11-C5 apricots	Chinese (Mormon), Harcot	Goldcot (cold-hardy and consistently productive, self-pollinating, zone 4 to 8, ripe early July) and Puget Gold (sets and sizes fruit in cool, frosty spring weather where others fail, self-pollinating, zone 4 to 9, ripe early August), both from the Intermountain table; neither has a library profile yet. A second Giant Tilton (very hardy and resistant to late frost), if you want to replicate the one you have.	Patterson (zone 6 to 9 per Dave Wilson, too tender); Rival and Tomcot (Intermountain says both bloom early, and Rival needs a partner); Goldrich, Perfection, and Goldbar, which need a partner this plan does not model.
4 plums (R11-C7, R12-C3, R12-C4, R12-C7)	Mount Royal (2), Stanley, Damson	Green Gage (self-pollinating, ripe in early August per the Intermountain table); Fellenberg or Early Italian, which Penn State lists as having some black knot resistance.	Santa Rosa: a Japanese plum bred for mild climates that blooms earlier than the European plums. A second or third Stanley (very susceptible to black knot).

Not planned: R13 to R15 (39 positions) are future rows. Not checked yet: Spartan, SnowSweet, and other apples you could graft later.

Ripening watch: apples you already have

Braeburn at R2-C2 belongs on this watch list too: its band is Late, but it is disease-susceptible and wants a long warm fall. Golden Delicious, Idared, Red Delicious, and Mutsu are less likely to be a problem: the Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide's apple table, written for Utah, lists them as cold hardy with September to October harvests. Prairie has a shorter season than most of Utah, so treat that as encouraging, not proof.

Sources and caveats

Site: NRCS Web Soil Survey report (soil pH, frost-free period); US Growers Guide: Planting zones in Elmore County, Idaho (zones 5a to 7a; last spring freeze May 1 to June 16 and first fall freeze Sept 4 to Oct 8 across four NOAA stations); Bield: Elmore County frost dates (Hill City 1 W, 5,100 ft: median last frost May 30, first fall frost Sept 18, 111 days, zone 5b); University of Idaho Extension: backyard tree fruit in harsher climates (apples, apricots, cherries, pears, and plums can be grown in short-season zones with the right cultivars).
Measured frost: the Prairie SNOTEL record, with the PRISM and Daymet models and the old Prairie weather station as cross-checks, on the site climate page; the numbers are in data/climate.json.
Cherries: Oregon State Extension: sweet cherry compatibility and bloom timing chart (Black Gold in pollination period IV; Skeena and WhiteGold in III; Bing and Stella in II; Lapins in I); Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide: bacterial canker (rootstocks and copper sprays); WSU Extension: bacterial canker in Washington sweet cherries (susceptible and resistant cultivars and rootstocks).
Plums and pears: Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide: plum varieties for Utah (harvest times, hardiness, and self-pollination); Penn State Extension: black knot of stone fruit (cultivar susceptibility and sanitation); Texas A&M AgriLife: bacterial canker in stone fruit.
Apples: Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide: apple varieties for Utah (harvest times and hardiness for Golden Delicious, Idared, Red Delicious, Mutsu, and Haralson).
Apricots: Intermountain Tree Fruit Production Guide: apricot varieties for Utah (harvest time, hardiness, bloom, and pollination for Chinese (Mormon), Harcot, Tilton, Goldcot, Puget Gold, and the others named above); Stark Bro's: Harcot apricot (frost-hardy, late-blooming, good tolerance to bacterial spot and perennial canker); the blossom-kill temperatures for apricots are in Utah State Extension's critical-temperatures table, shown on the site climate page.
Cultivar facts, ratings, and ripening dates are in each profile's sources in the cultivar guide. Flowering groups and zones that no source confirmed are marked as planning values or retail figures in the buy list.
Confirm that each nursery ships the item to Idaho and offers the rootstock you want before ordering, and that scionwood is still in stock; this plan does not pick nurseries.