FRUIT TREES in Eureka / Kalispell / Fortine (Whitefish, Hardin: live, fencing, gardens)

[AsForMeAndMyHouse]

Hello. We just bought 20 acres in Fortine! YEAH! Hopefully we will have our foundation in the ground before winter.

I have a thousand questions, but I will have to leave 999 of them alone for to ask about gardening, trees and the TRUE plant hardiness zone that Fortine is in (just South of Eureka).

TWO QUESTIONS:

1. What fruit trees can grow in this area? We want to have a small orchard with as many different trees as possible.

2. How do you keep the deer and bears from eating the fruit?

3. (okay, THREE questions), what about fruit and veggies in general. What grows, what doesn't?

Thanks so much! We hope to make the move from one extreme (Phoenix) to the other by this time next year!

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by AsForMeAndMyHouse

TWO QUESTIONS:

1. What fruit trees can grow in this area? We want to have a small orchard with as many different trees as possible.

Apples will grow for sure. Not necessarily well, but they do grow.

Originally Posted by AsForMeAndMyHouse

2. How do you keep the deer and bears from eating the fruit?

Deer are nearly impossible to protect against if you want a aesthetically pleasing garden. You can use deer proof fencing that is functional but may not look the best. You can spray hot caymen pepper on flowers, soap, install motion activated water sprinklers, shoot them with a bb gun, chase them with a broom and yell, or just let them eat. My family has tried most of them to varying degrees of success.

I haven't had experience with bears.

Originally Posted by AsForMeAndMyHouse

3. (okay, THREE questions), what about fruit and veggies in general. What grows, what doesn't?

I'm a Montana native but lived in Phoenix for three years so I understand the difference in climates. My opinion is that you'll get great enjoyment out of growing things in Montana but they'll be a lot different than what you're used to down there. Just understand and accept that things are different up in Montana. For example, I don't think growing fruit trees is highly successfull in Montana (some on here may disagree) compared to Arizona, because they require a lot more tending and work than they did down there. Citrus trees just seemed to grow down there, but fruit trees take more work in Montana.

One of the big differences is the short growing season. Chandler, AZ for many years produced more hay than any other part of the country because of the long growing season and unlimited sunlight. The shorter growing season changes the plants that grow in Montana.

A lot of people, including those who have veggie gardens, like to have nice flower gardens, and that was something that didn't work to well down in Arizona. It's something that will be new for you, but you can have very beautiful gardens as well as functional ones.

[allforcats]

Congratuations on making a beautiful choice for your lives!!

Originally Posted by AsForMeAndMyHouse

2. How do you keep the deer and bears from eating the fruit?

Answer: You live somewhere that's not western Montana. Have you ever seen how fast a bear climbs a cherry tree??
Or you grow enough so that they will share some with you.

[AsForMeAndMyHouse]

Originally Posted by allforcats

Answer: You live somewhere that's not western Montana. Have you ever seen how fast a bear climbs a cherry tree??
Or you grow enough so that they will share some with you.

Hahaha! I'm in for something completely new, huh?! Are you half kidding or 100% serious?

I have about 14 acres of meadow-type area with perfect southern exposure. As a follow-up, if I DID plant enough to "share" with the animals, if I had 100 tress, would I be INVITING the animals? That is, if the area had a couple bears, would it soon have 20?

[AsForMeAndMyHouse]

Originally Posted by bigtrees

Deer are nearly impossible to protect against if you want a aesthetically pleasing garden. You can use deer proof fencing that is functional but may not look the best. You can spray hot caymen pepper on flowers, soap, install motion activated water sprinklers, shoot them with a bb gun, chase them with a broom and yell, or just let them eat. My family has tried most of them to varying degrees of success.

I like the sprinkler idea! Does it just spook them off? Probably wouldn't work on a apple-craving bear, would it?

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by AsForMeAndMyHouse

I like the sprinkler idea! Does it just spook them off? Probably wouldn't work on a apple-craving bear, would it?

The bears really won't be much of a problem, they don't eat a lot and won't eat it all. You'll see them from time to time.

The sprinkler idea is funny, but I've heard that the deer get used to it over time, as with everything else. Shooting them with a bb gun is the most effective, except that the spotted fawns start eating instead and of course no one would shoot Bambi.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by AsForMeAndMyHouse

Hahaha! I'm in for something completely new, huh?! Are you half kidding or 100% serious?
Serious.

I have about 14 acres of meadow-type area with perfect southern exposure.
Then that's an excellent location for bears to spend their afternoons, grazing.

As a follow-up, if I DID plant enough to "share" with the animals,
You misread; they may share with YOU.

if I had 100 tress, would I be INVITING the animals? That is, if the area had a couple bears, would it soon have 20?
Bears are territorial; they don't live or even vacation in groups.
If you have a Mama and her one or two cubs, that's all you're likely to see PLUS one or two roaming males now and then.
Deer come in threes or 23s, depending on the grazing available. You might invite lots more deer with green leafy vegetables, not with trees. Deer don't usually eat "up".

Hope that helps!

[allforcats]

We didn't deal with this subject yet, did we?

This is fun and fascinating:
Hardiness Zone Changes at arborday.org
Click on "Play" and watch how they changed over the recent 16 years...

This is flat-out useful; click to get the map:
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/hardiness.htm

If I were looking to plant in Fortine, or Trego or Stryker, I'd go by Whitefish hardiness info, and then talk with people everywhere in Whitefish. Here's a useful bit of info:
http://articles.directorym.net/Plant...tefish_MT.html