Fruit Trees for Albany, Schenectady, Troy and the Capital District, New York

On May 18, 2023, a calm freeze caught the Capital District's orchards in bloom. Indian Ladder Farms, at the foot of the Helderberg Escarpment in New Scotland, lost nearly three-quarters of its crop, and Columbia County's apples, cherries, peaches and plums all reached the 30 percent loss mark for federal disaster aid. The next year Indian Ladder picked a record crop. That's the real question with fruit trees for Albany, Schenectady, Troy and the Capital District: nearly everything we sell will live here, and where you plant it decides how often it fruits.

The map runs from the Mohawk at Rotterdam and Niskayuna down the Hudson to Coxsackie, west into the Helderberg hilltowns, east over the Rensselaer County hills to Sand Lake, and south into Kinderhook and Chatham. Type your address in the box on the map and you'll get your own number, plus a list of what we sell that has come through that cold.

How to read this map

Every spot gets a planning low, an MFTC zone, a typical winter and a spring reading. The planning low is the cold we'd plan a tree around, built from the same 30-year number our cold hardiness calculator uses, with a light touch for the ground right around you; it's the safe side, not a record. The MFTC zone puts it in half zones. The typical winter is an ordinary year's coldest night, the basis of USDA zones, so it always reads milder. The spring reading compares a spot with downtown Albany on a calm, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Albany, on the hillside above the river, plans for −19°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −6°F. Half the growing ground plans between −21°F and −19°F. Niskayuna, on a bench above the Mohawk, is the mild end at −14°F, and Rensselaerville, in the hilltowns, the cold end at −25°F. Nearly our whole list clears that. Bloom night spreads much wider: the hills above East Greenbush and Feura Bush read 7°F warmer than downtown, and creek bottoms like Eagle Mills and Alcove 13°F colder.

Why the map looks the way it does

Glacial Lake Albany once filled this part of the valley and left a broad plain of sand and silt, with the Pine Bush dunes on top at 260 to 360 feet. The Hudson crosses it at sea level, tidal up to the Federal Dam at Troy, and the Mohawk comes in at Cohoes. West of Albany the Helderberg Escarpment climbs about 700 feet in under half a mile, and east of the river the ground rises steeply into the Rensselaer hills. On a calm, clear night cold air runs off all of it, down the Normans Kill, the Poesten Kill and Kinderhook Creek, and settles on the river flats, the Mohawk bottoms and the flat stretches of the old lake plain.

A few miles make a big difference in the station records. The old Albany city station ran a median 8°F warmer on the year's coldest night than the airport, 7 miles away in Colonie. In the January 1971 cold snap the airport hit −28°F, still its record, while Schenectady read −13°F and Grafton, 1,560 feet up on the Rensselaer Plateau at the map's east edge, −16°F. The official record moved to the airport in 1938, and NWS Albany's decade table shows the freeze-free season falling from 179 days in the 1930s to 147 in the 1940s. NWS doesn't say why. A station that runs 8°F colder fits, though some of it could be the weather.

Above the pools the slopes stay milder. The FAO's frost protection manual puts the top of a spring frost layer usually 30 to 200 feet above the ground, and the hills that rise well past that read best. Olcott Hill and Teller Hill near East Greenbush, 370 feet above their floor, and Bennett Hill and Copeland Hill above Feura Bush, 600 to 700 feet up, all read 7°F warmer than downtown Albany at bloom. Within 3 miles of the cities the benches plan for 2°F to 3°F warmer than the floor, −18°F against −21°F around Albany and Troy.

Height alone doesn't buy warmth, though. The hilltowns behind the escarpment sit 1,000 to 1,400 feet up, and their valley floors are among the coldest ground on the map. The Alcove Dam station, at 628 feet, runs a median 9°F colder than Schenectady on the year's coldest night. Knox, on a bench 130 feet above its floor, plans for −22°F; East Berne, at the bottom of its valley, −24°F.

All of this needs still air. NWS Albany notes the Mohawk Valley funnels west-northwest wind into the region during cold outbreaks, and in the January 1994 cold snap the airport and the Troy lock station, usually about 3°F apart, both read −23°F. The May 2023 freeze was the other kind of night; the AP's report said the calm made it worse.

The river is the open question. The Hudson stays open most winters (it froze over at Albany in 1994, 1996 and 2004), and the Troy lock station, right on it, has the longest frost-free season of any station here, 171 days. But its 30-year number, −21°F, is no milder than the map gives the flats, and the terrain reads the flats as the cold pool, 7°F to 11°F colder than downtown at bloom. Until there's a station on the flats away from the water, put early bloomers up the hill. Built-up ground gets up to 2.5°F of credit on the map for the heat a city holds on a still night.

Albany: the hill neighborhoods and the river flats

Albany climbs from the river, 2 to 4 feet above sea level, to 148 feet downtown and on into the sand hills of the west end. Downtown, on the hillside 90 feet above the floor, plans for −19°F; within 3 miles the benches plan for −18°F and the floor −21°F. Up the hill, Center Square, Hudson Park and Lark Street, on benches 160 to 180 feet up, plan for −18°F and read even with downtown at bloom or a degree warmer, and Washington Square and West Hill plan for −17°F. The Mansion District and Ten Broeck Triangle, on hillsides above the river, read 2°F to 3°F warmer at bloom. At river level it's the cold pool: the Pastures and Liberty Park plan for −20°F and read 9°F to 10°F colder, and the Warehouse District and North Albany read 8°F colder. Out west, Whitehall plans for −17°F, but Buckingham Lake and Melrose read 8°F to 9°F colder at bloom, and Campus, in a draw, plans for −21°F and reads 13°F colder.

The hill neighborhoods are where the city's early bloomers belong: Sungold and Westcot apricots (−40°F and −45°F), White Gold sweet cherries (−35°F), Veteran peaches (−30°F), Early Italian plums (−35°F) and Bing (−20°F). Down by the river, plant apples and bush fruit like Consort black currants (−50°F) and Pixwell gooseberries (−40°F).

Schenectady, Niskayuna, Rotterdam and Scotia

Schenectady grew up on the south bank of the Mohawk, and the river bottom is its cold ground. The city center, on the valley floor, plans for −18°F and reads 8°F colder than downtown Albany at bloom; within 3 miles the floor plans for −18°F and the benches −16°F. The Stockade, New York's first historic district, sits on low ground by the river that floods easily, at −18°F and 8°F colder at bloom, and Little Italy, on the floor along North Jay Street, reads 10°F colder. Up the hill it eases. The GE Realty Plot beside Union College, on a bench 120 feet up, plans for −16°F and reads 3°F colder, and Bellevue (−16°F) and Northside (−15°F) read within 2°F of downtown Albany. The old Schenectady station, at 220 feet, ran a median 5°F warmer than the Albany airport. Niskayuna, on a bench 180 feet up at 421 feet, is the warmest named place we checked at −14°F, MFTC zone 5b, though it reads 6°F colder at bloom, and Niska Isle, the peninsula out in the Mohawk, plans for −21°F and reads 10°F colder. Across the river Scotia plans for −17°F, and upriver Rotterdam −18°F, both 9°F colder at bloom.

The hill neighborhoods suit Fantasia and Mericrest nectarines (−20°F), Glowingstar peaches (−25°F) and Gold sweet cherries (−35°F), and in Niskayuna a spot by a south wall makes Chicago Hardy Fig (−10°F) worth a try, since the planning low there is within 4°F of its rating. On the Mohawk bottoms, go with Snowsweet® (−40°F) and Honeycrisp (−45°F) apples, Danube tart cherries (−35°F) and Titania black currants (−40°F).

Troy, Cohoes, Watervliet and Lansingburgh

Troy is flat along the river and climbs steeply east to about 500 feet, and the map reads the same way. The center, on the river bottom, plans for −21°F, MFTC zone 4b, and reads 7°F colder than downtown Albany at bloom; within 3 miles the floor plans for −21°F and the benches −18°F. Lansingburgh and North Central, on the river, plan for −21°F and read 9°F to 10°F colder. Up the hill, The Hill and Eastside, 210 to 250 feet above their floor, plan for −19°F and −18°F and read even with downtown Albany, Frear Park −18°F and 1°F warmer, and Sycaway, 390 feet up at 449 feet, −17°F and 4°F warmer. Across the river, Watervliet and Green Island, on the flats, plan for −21°F and −22°F and read 8°F to 9°F colder, and Cohoes, where the Mohawk splits into channels and islands, plans for −19°F and reads 3°F colder. Waterford, across the Mohawk, plans for −21°F and reads 6°F colder.

Sycaway and the hill above downtown suit Precious apricots (−40°F), Bing and White Gold cherries and PF-24C Cold Hardy peaches (−25°F). The flats at Watervliet, Green Island and Lansingburgh want apples like Fred's Mac and Sweet Sixteen (−40°F) and Joy bush cherries (−35°F). Farther north toward Saratoga, our Saratoga Springs map covers you.

Colonie, Latham, Loudonville and the old lake plain

North and west of Albany the old lake plain spreads out in sand, with the airport on former Shaker farmland in central Colonie. Flat ground with nowhere for cold air to go is pool ground, and the spring layer shows it. Colonie plans for −18°F and reads 8°F colder than downtown Albany at bloom, Karner −18°F and 8°F colder, McKownville −20°F and 9°F colder, and Shakers, on a river bottom southwest of the airport, 12°F colder. The higher ground does better. Loudonville, on a hillside 260 feet up near Colonie's high point, plans for −16°F and reads even with downtown, Newtonville, on a bench 190 feet up, −16°F and 3°F colder, and Boght Corners −16°F and 2°F colder. Latham plans for −17°F but reads 7°F colder at bloom. In Guilderland, Westmere plans for −17°F and Guilderland Center −19°F, and they read 7°F and 10°F colder.

Loudonville, Newtonville and Boght Corners can take Mount Royal plums (−45°F), Westcot apricots and sweet cherries. On the plain, plant Haralson (−45°F) and Wolf River (−50°F) apples and Honeyberry (−50°F), the haskap.

Delmar, Bethlehem, New Scotland and the foot of the Helderbergs

South and west of the city the plain runs up to the Helderberg Escarpment, limestone ledges that rise from about 400 feet at the base to about 1,100 feet on top, with John Boyd Thacher State Park along much of it. Bethlehem sits on the plain. Delmar plans for −18°F and reads 6°F colder than downtown Albany at bloom, Elsmere −19°F and 8°F colder, and Glenmont, near the river, −20°F and 8°F colder. Bethlehem Center, on a bench 160 feet up, is the town's warm spot at −18°F and 2°F colder, while South Albany and Bethlehem Heights, on floors to the south, plan for −23°F. New Scotland and Voorheesville plan for −19°F and read 5°F to 6°F colder. Indian Ladder Farms runs nearly a mile along the base of the escarpment on the Altamont-Voorheesville Road, and Altamont, on a bench 110 feet up at 464 feet, plans for −19°F and reads 6°F colder. The hills above Feura Bush and Clarksville are among the warmest bloom readings we checked (Bennett Hill and Copeland Hill 7°F warmer than downtown Albany), and Clarksville itself, on a bench 190 feet up, plans for −21°F and reads 2°F colder.

Indian Ladder grows about 30 apple varieties, Honeycrisp (−45°F) and Cortland (−40°F) among them, and the late Peter Ten Eyck there was one of the first growers to plant Empire (−35°F). All three fit the plain at Delmar and Elsmere. Keep apricots, plums and sweet cherries for the hills and for benches like Bethlehem Center.

The Helderberg hilltowns and Duanesburg

Up on top, Berne, Knox, Westerlo and Rensselaerville are some of the coldest country on the map. Berne, in a draw at 1,000 feet, plans for −23°F and reads 10°F colder than downtown Albany at bloom, and East Berne −24°F and 10°F colder. Westerlo plans for −24°F, and Rensselaerville, at 1,381 feet, −25°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −12°F. Knox reads only 4°F colder at bloom, and the hamlet of Helderberg, 350 feet above its floor at 1,593 feet, plans for −21°F and reads even with downtown. In western Schenectady County, Duanesburg plans for −23°F with a typical winter of −12°F, and Mariaville −22°F.

Plant the hilltowns for −25°F and lean on the toughest kinds: Trailman applecrab (−55°F), Centennial (−50°F), which Ed Schultz saw come through a winter that hit −47°F with no winter injury, Wealthy apples (−50°F), Brookgold and Brookred plums (−50°F) on the slopes, Juliet dwarf cherries (−50°F), Krasnobokaya pears (−50°F) up off the floor, and Valiant grapes (−50°F).

Rensselaer, East Greenbush, Schodack and the Rensselaer hills

East of the river the ground rises fast. Rensselaer, on the flats opposite Albany, plans for −21°F and reads 11°F colder than downtown Albany at bloom. A few miles east the Rensselaer hills turn that around. Defreestville, on a bench 220 feet up, and Clinton Heights, on a hillside 200 feet up, plan for −17°F, and East Greenbush, on a bench at 336 feet, plans for −19°F and reads 1°F warmer. Olcott, Teller and Rysedorph hills, 320 to 370 feet above their floors, read 6°F to 7°F warmer, and Teller Hill plans for −16°F. South through Schodack, Castleton-on-Hudson, on a 28 percent slope above the river, plans for −21°F and reads even with downtown, and Brookview, where Goold Orchards started growing apples in 1910, −20°F and 1°F warmer, while Schodack Center, on the floor, reads 13°F colder. Toward the plateau, Averill Park, on a bench 160 feet up at 788 feet, plans for −20°F and reads 2°F colder, but Sand Lake reads 10°F colder, Eagle Mills, in a creek bottom, 13°F colder, and Nassau plans for −23°F.

These hills are some of the best stone fruit ground near the cities: Wayne apricots (−40°F), Veteran and Siberian C (−35°F) peaches, Kaga plums (−40°F) and sweet cherries. Goold's winery planned on Frontenac grapes, and Frontenac and Marquette (−35°F) fit the slopes here. On the flats at Rensselaer and Schodack Center, plant apples, haskap and Aronia (−50°F).

Kinderhook, Valatie, Chatham and the river towns to Coxsackie

Northern Columbia County is old apple country. Kinderhook Creek runs southwest through it toward Stockport Creek, a tidal arm of the Hudson, and its floors pool cold. Kinderhook plans for −20°F and reads 5°F colder than downtown Albany at bloom, Niverville, by Kinderhook Lake, −21°F and 7°F colder, and Valatie, by the falls, −21°F and 13°F colder. Samascott Orchards in Kinderhook grows more than 70 apple varieties, and Golden Harvest Farms in Valatie has had apples on its land since at least 1870. Chatham, on a hillside 110 feet up, plans for −22°F and reads 3°F colder, and Old Chatham, on a bench, −22°F and even, while Chatham Center, in a draw, reads 10°F colder. Toward the Massachusetts line, Ghent plans for −23°F and Spencertown and East Chatham −24°F.

Along the river south of Albany the hillsides do best at bloom. New Baltimore, on a 17 percent slope 100 feet up, plans for −21°F and reads 1°F warmer than downtown Albany, and Stuyvesant, on a hillside, −20°F and 1°F warmer, while Roah Hook and Coxsackie, on the river bottom, read 13°F colder. Lampman Hill, just south of Coxsackie, plans for −17°F and reads 4°F warmer. Inland in Greene County, Greenville and Freehold plan for −23°F.

Samascott grows Newtown Pippin (−30°F), and it fits all of this country. On the river hillsides, plant Montana Mango apricots (−35°F), Contender peaches (−30°F) and Lapins cherries (−35°F); on the Valatie and Coxsackie bottoms, stick with apples and bush fruit. Farther south around Germantown and Rhinebeck, our mid-Hudson Valley map covers you.

Spring frost and bloom in the Capital District

At the Albany airport, NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 give a median last frost of 32°F on April 29 and a last 28°F on April 14, with 161 frost-free days, and in one year out of ten the last 32°F holds off until May 15 or later. The Troy lock station, on the river at 15 feet, gets its last 32°F on April 21, and the Alcove Dam station not until May 6 (May 18 or later one year in ten). The latest last freeze on record at Albany came May 25, 1956. The airport's season has stretched lately, 173 days on average in the 2010s against 138 in the 1950s.

Early warmth and then a still night is the setup that hurts. On May 18, 2023 blossoms that early heat had pushed along froze across New York. The state's apple board put the losses at a preliminary 25 to 30 percent and Cornell's Greg Peck at about 20 percent, and Peck put the uneven damage down to microclimates. Indian Ladder's trees, having borne little in 2023, put more into a record crop in 2024. In 2012 spring freezes cut Goold Orchards in Castleton to 720 bushels against an average of about 55,000.

An open blossom on any of the tree fruits starts to die around 28°F (Michigan State's numbers), and the FAO says how low a frost goes matters more than how long it lasts. Sweet cherries can lose half their flowers and still carry a full crop, apples need only about 15 percent, and haskap flowers stand 19°F wide open. So give apricots, plums, peaches and sweet cherries ground that reads within a couple of degrees of downtown Albany or warmer at bloom, and give floors that read 8°F or more colder to apples, haskap, currants and gooseberries. Our grower friend Bob Purvis's rule fits here: east-facing ground catches the first sun after a frost, and a north slope keeps early bloomers from opening too soon. Through bloom, keep the grass under the trees cut short and soak the ground a day or two ahead of a forecast frost.

What the weather records say

The Albany airport's record low is −28°F, from January 19, 1971, the same day the Valatie station hit −28°F; the official record has been kept at the airport since 1938. Schenectady also reached −28°F (February 10, 1948), and so did Alcove Dam, Chatham (January 11, 1968) and Spencertown (January 15, 1957). The old Albany city station's coldest was −24°F, on January 5, 1904, and the Troy lock station's −23°F, on January 27, 1994. On December 27, 1914 the old Troy station set its record low, −16°F, while Ballston Lake, at 300 feet on the map's north edge, hit −34°F. Since the 1995-96 winter the airport's coldest has been −19°F, a degree milder than its 30-year number, and the Schenectady airport's 30-year number of −15°F runs colder than the −13°F it has recorded since then. The airport still sees about nine nights a year at 0°F or colder.

Wikipedia puts downtown Albany and the river in USDA zone 6a and the west end of the city in 5b. USDA zones average each winter's coldest night and ours plan for the bad one, so our MFTC zones read colder: 5a for most of the cities, 4b for much of the river flats and all of the hilltowns, and 5b only at Niskayuna among the named places.

What you can grow here

Nearly everything we sell has come through colder than this map's planning lows, so the choice comes down to site and bloom. Check a variety's rating, the coldest it's known to have survived, against your number, then put the early bloomers where your spring reading is good.

Hills, benches and the warm neighborhoods, −18°F or warmer (Niskayuna, Loudonville, Boght Corners, Latham, the GE Realty Plot, Center Square, Washington Square, Sycaway, Defreestville, Clinton Heights, Teller Hill): Glowingstar, PF-24C Cold Hardy and Veteran peaches, Fantasia and Mericrest nectarines, Sungold, Precious and Westcot apricots, Bing, Gold and White Gold cherries, Early Italian and Kaga plums, Rocky Mountain Medlar (−30°F) and Hardy Kiwi Vines (−40°F). Only Niskayuna is mild enough to make Chicago Hardy Fig worth a try.

The flats, the lake plain and the valley floors, −19°F to −22°F (Troy, Watervliet, Green Island, Rensselaer, the Pastures, Elsmere, Glenmont, Guilderland, Waterford, Kinderhook, Valatie, Coxsackie, Averill Park): Honeycrisp, Empire, Cortland and Newtown Pippin apples, Danube and Meteor (−40°F) tart cherries, Honeyberry, Consort and Titania currants, Pixwell and Hinnomaki Red gooseberries (−40°F), Polana raspberries (−40°F) and Adam's elderberries (−40°F). Pears like Summercrisp and Ure (−45°F) go on the higher corners, not the bottoms.

The hilltowns and the cold upland floors, −23°F to −25°F (Berne, East Berne, Westerlo, Rensselaerville, Duanesburg, Nassau, Ghent, Spencertown, East Chatham, Greenville, Freehold): Trailman, Centennial and Wealthy, Brookgold and Brookred plums on the slopes, Juliet cherries, Krasnobokaya pears up off the floor, Honeyberry, Aronia and Valiant grapes. Blushingstar (−30°F) and the −25°F peaches clear even Rensselaerville, but with these floors 5°F to 13°F colder than downtown at bloom, they belong on a bench.

Pick a slope that drains, off both the windswept top and the bottom; Montana State likes a 4 to 8 percent grade. Look downhill before you plant, because a hedge, a road fill or a stand of woods across the slope will back cold air up into your trees. Roots are the weak link in a dormant tree, and snow keeps them alive: at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Bud 118 apple rootstock saw near −50°F under snow with no damage. On zone 4 ground, taper water from mid-August so trees harden off, and skip late nitrogen.

Fruit history in the Capital District

Mohawk people farmed maize on the Mohawk's river flats, and there were farms at Rensselaer by 1642. The Normans Kill valley held the first Dutch farms west of Albany by the late 1600s, and in the early days ice was cut from the Normans Kill and shipped to New York City. Shaker farms covered central Colonie, where the airport sits now. In Columbia County the Erie Canal moved grain growing west and opened the way for apples as a cash crop, and Samascott grew from a 180-acre dairy in the early 1900s to over 1,000 acres by the 1960s. James Goold, a Cornell horticulture graduate, founded Goold Orchards in Castleton in 1910, and Peter Ten Eyck, a state agriculture commissioner and congressman, founded Indian Ladder Farms in 1916.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Albany, NY?

Downtown Albany plans for −19°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −6°F. Wikipedia puts downtown and the river in USDA zone 6a and the west end in 5b; USDA's map averages each winter's coldest night, while ours plans for the bad one. Hill neighborhoods like Center Square plan for −17°F to −18°F, and river-level ones like the Pastures −20°F.

When is the last frost in Albany, NY?

NOAA station records (1991 to 2020) give the Albany airport a median last 32°F frost of April 29 and a last 28°F of April 14, and in one year out of ten it's May 15 or later. The Troy lock station runs earlier (April 21) and the Alcove Dam station later (May 6). The latest last freeze on record at Albany came May 25, 1956.

Can you grow peaches in the Capital District?

Yes. Contender and Veteran (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) clear the planning low at every named place on this map, and even the −25°F peaches like Glowingstar clear Rensselaerville, the coldest of them. Peaches bloom early, so give them a hill that reads warm at bloom: the Rensselaer hills above East Greenbush, Loudonville, Troy's Sycaway or the hills above Feura Bush.

Why were apple crops so small around Albany in 2023?

A calm freeze on May 18, 2023 hit blossoms that early warmth had pushed along. Indian Ladder Farms in New Scotland lost nearly three-quarters of its crop, and statewide estimates ran from about 20 percent (Cornell) to 25 to 30 percent (the state apple board).

Where are the frost pockets around Albany?

Among the named places we checked, several read 13°F colder than downtown Albany on a calm spring night: Eagle Mills, Alcove, Valatie, Schodack Center, Roah Hook, Coxsackie and the Campus neighborhood in Albany's west end. The river flats at Rensselaer (11°F colder) and the old lake plain around McKownville and Colonie (8°F to 9°F colder) run cold too. For winter cold, the hilltown floors are the worst, with Rensselaerville at −25°F.

Warmer spots, colder spots

Here's the number to plan for at named places on the map, warmest first. Each one is the 1-in-30-year low for that spot: the cold hardiness calculator's number from the same weather stations, sharpened by our microclimate model for the ground right there. Zone is our MFTC zone, set by that one bad night, not by an average.

The weather stations behind it

These are the long-record stations in and around this map, with each one's own numbers since the winter of 1995-96. The last column is this map's 30-year number right at the station, which won't match the station exactly: it's a blend of the stations around it, the way the calculator works everywhere.

Source: NOAA records through ACIS, winters 1995-96 through 2025-26. What the "carried forward," "gaps filled" and AWOS rows mean is explained in how our microclimate maps work.