Fruit Trees for Oswego, Fulton and the Lake Ontario Shore, New York

In the January 22, 2014 cold snap, NOAA's Pulaski station read −27°F while Oswego, 23 miles down the same Lake Ontario shore, read −5°F, and the two Fulton stations inland read −12°F and −13°F. That spread is the story of fruit trees for Oswego, Fulton and the Lake Ontario shore: a warm strip along the open lake, a colder middle, and a cold corner out toward the Salmon River and the Tug Hill.

The map covers central and western Oswego County, from Oswego and Mexico Bay south through Fulton and Phoenix to Brewerton and Oneida Lake, and east to Central Square, Parish and Pulaski. Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

The big number at any spot is its 30-year planning low, the bad winter night we'd plan a tree around. It runs cautious, so treat it as a safe number to plan for, not a promise of how often that night comes. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones; the typical winter is an average year's coldest night, the kind of number USDA's map uses. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder a spot runs than Oswego on a still, clear night at bloom. It carries the terrain at full strength, so a drumlin top and the draw below it can sit 2°F apart on the winter number and 10°F apart at bloom.

The middle of the growing ground plans for −24°F, the coldest 5 percent for −30°F or colder and the warmest 5 percent for −21°F or warmer. Oswego, the reference town, plans for −19°F (MFTC 5a, typical winter −5°F). The warm end is the shore and the drumlin hills behind it, where the SUNY Oswego campus and Bunker Hill plan for −17°F. The cold end is the northeast corner: Pulaski plans for −31°F (MFTC 3b), Richland and Port Ontario −30°F. Every station here plans colder than it has read since the 1995-96 winter; the Oswego station's own 30-year number is −17°F against a coldest reading of −15°F (February 2016), and Pulaski's is −31°F against −27°F (January 2014).

Why the map looks the way it does

All of this country drains north to Lake Ontario, the lowest ground on the map at about 243 feet. The Oswego River forms at Three Rivers, about 357 feet, where the Oneida River meets the Seneca, and runs north past Phoenix, Fulton and Minetto to the lake. A low divide crosses the county through Fulton and Palermo Center. North of it is a drumlin field, long low ridges running north and south with swampy troughs between them that drain straight to the lake. South of it, sluggish streams wander through big swamps toward the Oneida and Oswego rivers. East of Parish and Pulaski the ground climbs toward the Tug Hill.

The lake is the biggest single thing here. Lake Ontario averages 283 feet deep and doesn't freeze over in a typical winter (it has frozen completely only five times on record, the last in 1934), and open water warms its shore all winter. NOAA station records show Oswego, on the shore at 324 feet, running a median 6°F warmer on the year's coldest night than the Fulton airport station 10 miles inland, with 183 frost-free days to the airport's 158. On the map that warmth fades within a few miles: the city plans for −19°F, Lansing 3 miles east −20°F, and Minetto, 4 miles up the river, −23°F.

The shore isn't evenly warm, though. Head northeast toward Mexico Bay and the Salmon River and it gets colder: Demster Beach plans for −26°F, Ramona Beach −28°F, Port Ontario −30°F. Pulaski, about 3 miles from the lake, runs a median 10°F colder than Oswego on the year's coldest night over 23 years of shared records. We haven't found a published explanation. Pulaski sits in the Salmon River valley at the foot of the Tug Hill, in the Oswego to Pulaski snow belt where some winters top 20 feet, and air over deep snow cools hard on a clear night. That may be part of it.

Inside that big pattern, the drumlins sort the ground. On a clear, calm night cold air slides off the ridges into the troughs and settles over the swamps and wet hardpan. The winter number takes the terrain at a quarter strength, so the ridges only gain a couple of degrees there (within 3 miles of Oswego the floor plans for −21°F and the benches −19°F). The spring layer takes it at full strength. Cornish Hill, 120 feet above its floor southwest of the city, reads 4°F warmer than Oswego at bloom, while Furniss, in the draw 1.4 miles south, reads 5°F colder.

South of the divide the ground is flat and wet, and that's where the cold pools. Three Rivers, right on its floor, plans for −25°F and reads 10°F colder than Oswego at bloom. A river bottom is still a bottom, and swamp and wet meadow (Peter Scott Swamp, Cicero Swamp, Toad Harbor Swamp) is low, grassy and often peaty, so a still night's cold builds there. Oneida Lake, 22 feet deep on average, freezes solidly in most winters, and a frozen lake gives no heat, so Brewerton on its shore plans for −25°F. Not every cold snap sorts the ground like this. In the February 14, 2016 cold snap the county's stations finished within 4°F of each other, −15°F at Oswego to −19°F at Pulaski. The warm-shore, cold-pocket pattern is a clear, calm night pattern, and wind or deep arctic air flattens it.

Oswego, SUNY and the drumlin hills west of the city

Oswego sits where the river enters Lake Ontario, split into east and west sides, with Fort Ontario on high ground over the mouth. Downtown, about 30 feet above the lake, plans for −19°F (MFTC 5a, typical winter −5°F); within 3 miles the floor plans for −21°F and the benches −19°F. The SUNY Oswego campus on the shore plans for −17°F, the warmest of any named place we checked, though it reads 2°F colder than Oswego at bloom. Oswego Beach and Burts Point plan for −19°F and −20°F.

The drumlin hills southwest of the city are the best fruit ground we checked on the map, by both numbers. Bunker Hill, 120 feet above its floor, plans for −17°F and reads 4°F warmer than Oswego at bloom. Cornish Hill plans for −18°F and reads 4°F warmer, and Gardner Hill −18°F and more than 6°F warmer, the best spring reading of any named place on the map. Southwest Oswego and Camp Hollis read 4°F warmer too. Fruit Valley Orchard, with u-pick cherries, apricots and pears, has a Bunker Hill Road address, about where these numbers would put one. Down on the low ground it changes: Fruit Valley hamlet plans for −18°F but reads 4°F colder at bloom, and Furniss 5°F colder. Muck and swamp ground runs cold on a still night because it's low and organic.

Scriba and Minetto

East of the city, Scriba climbs onto drumlin country. Lansing, on a hillside 100 feet above its floor, plans for −20°F (MFTC 5a) and reads 2°F warmer than Oswego at bloom, because its cold slides on downhill. North Scriba and Klocks Corner, on benches 100 to 150 feet up, plan for −22°F and −21°F and read 1°F warmer. Flat and low ground loses: South Scriba plans for −23°F and reads 4°F colder, and Walker, low by the shore, 7°F colder.

Minetto, the old Columbia Mills company town on the river 4 miles south of Oswego, sits on a toe slope 10 feet above the floor and plans for −23°F, 4°F colder than downtown Oswego. The river trough holds cold. Climb out and it changes fast: Seneca Hill, where the river cuts a bluff a half mile away, reads 4°F warmer than Oswego at bloom, and Worden Hill, under a mile off, plans for −21°F and reads 6°F warmer.

Fulton, Granby, Volney and Hannibal

Fulton straddles the Oswego River 11 miles up from the lake, with the old Oswego Falls settlement on the west side, the old downtown on the east, and the divide running through town. Downtown, at about 358 feet and 10 feet above its floor, plans for −23°F (MFTC 4b, typical winter −9°F) and reads 3°F colder than Oswego at bloom. Within 3 miles the floor plans for −24°F, the benches −23°F and the coldest tenth of the ground −25°F. NOAA's Fulton station (360 feet) and the county airport station east of town (471 feet) carry their own 30-year numbers of −24°F and −23°F. Lake Neatahwanta, on the west side, is 12 feet deep at most, too shallow to count on in midwinter.

West of the river, Granby's drumlins run a little warmer: Granby Center, Bowens Corners and Lewis Corners plan for −22°F, and Lewis Corners, 100 feet above its floor, reads even with Oswego at bloom. South Granby, on low ground 10 feet above its floor, reads 9°F colder. East of the river, Volney hamlet plans for −25°F on flat ground and Mount Pleasant, in a draw 5 miles northeast of Fulton, −25°F with bloom nights 8°F colder, while Honey Hill, 2 miles from downtown Fulton and 100 feet above its floor, reads 3°F warmer than Oswego.

Hannibal village, on Nine Mile Creek 10 feet above its floor, plans for −24°F (MFTC 4b) and reads 6°F colder than Oswego at bloom, and Hannibal Center, right on its floor, 9°F colder. North Hannibal, 80 feet up, plans for −21°F and reads even with Oswego, and Bethel, at about 460 feet, −20°F. The Hannibal hills suit Liberty and Northern Spy (both −30°F) and Italian plum (−35°F); peaches only on the high ground.

Phoenix, Three Rivers and the river bottoms

Phoenix sits on the east bank of the river and canal, 10 feet above its floor, with no bench ground at all within 3 miles. It plans for −24°F (MFTC 4b, typical winter −10°F) and reads 7°F colder than Oswego at bloom; within 3 miles the warmest tenth of the ground is −22°F and the coldest −25°F. Three Rivers, 2 miles south, plans for −25°F and reads 10°F colder. Caughdenoy, on the Oneida River in Schroeppel, reads 8°F colder at bloom, and Oak Orchard, toward Brewerton, 9°F colder. Peter Scott Swamp, which Cornell's W. W. Rowlee compared in size to the Cicero swamps in 1897, is ground to stay off. The relief is any rise: Woodchuck Hill, 3 miles north of Phoenix, plans for −22°F and reads 1°F warmer than Oswego at bloom. West of the river, Baird Corners sits in a creek bottom and reads 9°F colder.

Brewerton, Central Square and Oneida Lake

Brewerton, at the west end of Oneida Lake where the Oneida River leaves it, plans for −25°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −11°F) and reads 3°F colder than Oswego at bloom; the coldest tenth of the ground within 3 miles is −27°F. Shallow Oneida Lake doesn't warm its shore through January the way Lake Ontario does. Its stable ice season has shrunk, from 117 days in 1899 to 1900 to 71 in 2007 to 2008, but it still freezes most winters. Toad Harbor, Big Bay and Sandy Bay along the shore plan for −26°F.

Central Square, 3 miles north on US 11, plans for −24°F (MFTC 4b) but reads 2°F warmer than Oswego at bloom. Mallory, 3 miles past it, sits on its floor, plans for −26°F and reads 9°F colder, and NOAA's old Mallory station (1963 to 1974) holds the coldest reading of any station on this map, −33°F in January 1968. West Monroe plans for −26°F. If you're farther east toward Rome, check the Utica, Rome and Mohawk Valley map.

Mexico, New Haven and Palermo

Mexico is the orchard town here, with Behling, Appledale and Sage Creek orchards, and it's colder than Oswego. The village, 60 feet above its floor, plans for −25°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −10°F) but reads only 1°F colder than Oswego at bloom. Within 3 miles the floor plans for −26°F and the benches −24°F. Mullen Hill plans for −24°F and reads within about 1°F of Oswego at bloom, while Colosse, on low ground 4 miles southeast, reads 8°F colder. Behling credits Lake Ontario for good apple conditions, and also for multi-foot lake-effect snow and frigid winter lows. The map agrees: a full zone colder than Oswego in winter, with kind bloom nights.

The New Haven shore, west of Mexico Bay, has the biggest gap between floor and bench of any place we checked. Within 3 miles of Demster Beach, Hickory Grove and Pleasant Point Crossing the low ground plans for −27°F to −28°F and the benches −22°F to −23°F. The shore spots plan for −24°F to −26°F and read from 1°F colder to 2°F warmer than Oswego at bloom. New Haven hamlet, 140 feet above its floor, plans for −23°F.

Palermo, where the divide crosses Route 3, plans for −24°F. Russ Mills, in a creek bottom 2 miles east, reads 12°F colder than Oswego at bloom, the coldest spring reading of any named place on the map, while Upson Corners, under a mile away and 80 feet above its floor, reads 1°F warmer. That's 13°F in under a mile.

Pulaski, Richland and Parish

Pulaski sits on the Salmon River at about 375 feet and plans for −31°F (MFTC 3b, typical winter −14°F). Within 3 miles the floor plans for −30°F and the benches only −29°F, so climbing doesn't buy much. Richland and Port Ontario plan for −30°F, and Fernwood, in a draw 5 miles south, −28°F with bloom nights 11°F colder than Oswego. Bloom is kinder than winter here: Pulaski reads only 1°F colder than Oswego at bloom and Port Ontario 1°F warmer. Parish, near the old Lake Iroquois shoreline where the climb to the Tug Hill starts, plans for −26°F (MFTC 4a), and north and east of it the numbers keep falling, to −28°F at Dugway and Howardville and −29°F at Centerville and Pineville. In this corner, plan on the hardiest trees we sell and treat anything rated −30°F as a gamble. Farther up the shore toward Watertown, the Watertown and Tug Hill edge map covers you.

Spring frost and bloom along the lake

Lake Ontario works on the spring side too. A big, deep lake stays cold into spring, and its lake breezes hold bloom back until frost danger passes, the classic fruit-belt effect. NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 show it: at Oswego the median last 32°F comes April 24 (one year in ten, May 8) and the last 28°F April 7. At the Fulton airport it's May 7 (one year in ten, May 19) and April 22. Syracuse's airport station, at the map's south edge, sits between at April 29 and April 16. In fall, Oswego's median first 32°F comes October 24, against October 12 at the airport.

The warm spring readings are the drumlin hills near Oswego, the New Haven shore and a few inland rises; the cold ones are the draws and river bottoms, down to 12°F colder than Oswego at Russ Mills. Open blossoms of apple, pear, cherry, peach, apricot and plum all start dying at about 28°F, so a spot that runs 9°F colder than town can lose a crop on a night Oswego shrugs off.

2012 showed what an early spring does here. After a record warm spell, McIntosh hit green tip March 17 to 19 across the Lake Ontario fruit region, which includes Oswego County. Freezes in the low 20s °F on March 27 and 31 caught apricots and plums in full bloom and damaged buds on apples, pears, peaches and cherries, and late April brought more. Against 2011 the region's pears fell 74 percent, peaches 62 percent, sweet cherries 57 percent and apples 41 percent. Afterward, growers in Cornell's Lake Ontario Fruit Program said they had a better handle on which orchards were high risk because of microclimate.

So put apricots, peaches and sweet cherries on the drumlin tops and benches where the spring layer reads warm. Apples only need about 15 percent of their blossoms to set a crop, and open haskap flowers take 19°F, so those and the bush fruit go lower. Through bloom, mow short, don't till, and water a day or two before a forecast frost. And don't panic over one frosty morning: unless it's clustered fruit like cherries or grapes, most fruit can lose half its blossoms with little effect. Frost acts as natural thinning.

What the weather records say

The coldest readings on file at NOAA stations here: Mallory −33°F (January 9 and 11, 1968, with 11 years on file), Pulaski −29°F (January 15, 1957), Syracuse's airport −26°F (January 26, 1966 and February 18, 1979), Oswego −23°F (December 29, 1933, in 96 years on file), the Fulton airport −19°F (January 25, 2004) and Fulton −18°F (January 25, 2013). In nearly every big cold snap Oswego comes out the warm one. In the January 1966 cold snap Mallory read −28°F, Pulaski −20°F and Oswego −8°F. The average yearly low runs about −7°F at Oswego, −9°F at both Fulton stations and −15°F at Pulaski.

USDA's map puts the city of Oswego in zone 6a. That's built on the average year's coldest night, and Oswego's average yearly low of about −7°F sits right in 6a. We plan for the bad night instead: −19°F, MFTC 5a, a full zone colder. Snow is a record of its own here: Oswego averages about 140 inches a season.

What you can grow around Oswego, Fulton and Mexico

The lakeshore and the drumlin hills by Oswego, −17°F to −21°F. The city, SUNY, Fruit Valley, Southwest Oswego, Oswego Center, Lansing, Scriba's benches and Bethel. This is the ground for the tender stuff, with the stone fruit up on the hills: Contender peach (−30°F; Tom McCamant grows it at Forbidden Fruit Orchard in Paradise, Montana, and it's the only commercial peach we know of that has taken −32°F), Veteran peach (−30°F, rated 5 of 5 for hardiness in Cornell's 1986 peach bulletin), Blushingstar peach (−25°F), Harlayne apricot (−30°F), Rainier and Stella sweet cherries (−30°F), D'Anjou pear (−30°F), Stanley plum (−30°F) and Cox Orange Pippin apple (−30°F).

Fulton, Hannibal, Phoenix, Palermo and the middle country, −21°F to −25°F. Most of Granby, Volney, Hannibal, Schroeppel and Palermo, plus Central Square and Mexico village. Go with trees rated −30°F or colder: Honeycrisp (−45°F), Empire (−35°F), Bartlett pear (−35°F), Superior plum (−35°F), Lapins and Black Gold sweet cherries (−35°F), Evan's Bali tart cherry (−45°F), Westcot apricot (−45°F) and Siberian C peach (−35°F), with Contender and Veteran on the rises.

Brewerton, the river bottoms, Parish and the cold northeast, −25°F to −31°F. Pulaski, Richland, Parish, Mallory, West Monroe, Three Rivers, the Oneida Lake shore and the low ground behind the New Haven shore. Plan on trees rated −35°F or colder: Haralson (−45°F), Zestar!® (−40°F), Summercrisp pear (−40°F), Toka plum (−45°F), Meteor tart cherry (−40°F), Westcot apricot (−45°F), Siberian C peach (−35°F), and if you only plant one tree, Kerr (−50°F) or Trailman (−60°F) applecrab. Lapins (−35°F) clears Pulaski's −31°F with 4°F to spare. Contender (−30°F) is worth a try on the best rise you've got, never in the bottoms.

Bush fruit, anywhere. Honeyberry (−50°F), Montana Black Currant (−50°F), Red Lake currant (−40°F), Nanking Cherry (−50°F) and Boyne raspberry (−40°F) clear every spot on this map. Red Lake and Montana Black Currant fruited well for us in 2026 after their flower buds saw about 22°F, so currants and honeyberries are the crop for the frosty troughs. Most tree fruit needs a pollenizer, a second variety blooming at the same time; our pollination maps show which ones pair up, and the cold hardiness calculator runs the same kind of planning low for any address.

With lake-effect snow over 100 inches a season, roots usually winter under a deep blanket, though on plowed lots and wind-scoured spots you'll want the hardiest stock you can get. The bigger root problem is water. A blue hardpan under the drumlin troughs is nearly impervious, which is why the hollows hold swamps, so dig a 2 foot hole, fill it, let it drain and fill it again; if the second fill takes more than 10 hours to drain, plant elsewhere or build the ground up. Aim for a 4 to 8 percent slope where cold air won't settle, and clear brush or hedges across the bottom of it that dam the cold. Fire blight is the big disease (Behling lost trees to it in 2017), and deer are bad enough that Western New York growers have fenced at least 600 acres of orchard. We taper water from mid-August in zone 4 country so trees harden off before the first frost, around October 12 at the Fulton airport in a median year.

Fruit history here

Fruit Valley, 3 miles west of Oswego on Route 104, is the oldest settlement in the town of Oswego. Asa Rice built the first log cabin there in 1797, where the post office stands now, and McBride's cider mill later stood in the hamlet. We haven't found a source that explains the name. The town also farmed its muck for decades, shipping lettuce to New York City.

Today the orchards cluster in Mexico and on the west side of the town of Oswego. Behling Orchards in Mexico started in 1947, has run five generations, developed its own apple (Jenna Blush), and has pressed its cider rack-and-cloth for over 50 years. Appledale Orchards on Route 3 has been with the Simpelaar family since it opened in 1959, and Fruit Valley Orchard runs one of the few u-pick cherry operations in Central New York.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Oswego, NY?

USDA's map puts the city of Oswego in zone 6a, but that's built on the average winter's coldest night. On the bad night we plan for, downtown Oswego is −19°F, MFTC zone 5a. Fulton plans for −23°F (4b), Mexico −25°F (4a) and Pulaski −31°F (3b).

When is the last frost in Oswego, NY?

At NOAA's Oswego station the median last 32°F frost is April 24 (1991 to 2020), and one spring in ten it comes as late as May 8. Ten miles inland at the Fulton airport the median is May 7, and one year in ten May 19.

Can you grow peaches in Oswego County?

Yes, hardy ones on the right ground. Siberian C has come through −35°F and Contender and Veteran −30°F, which clears the lakeshore's −17°F to −21°F and Fulton's −23°F. Put them on the drumlin hills near Oswego, like Gardner Hill or Cornish Hill, where bloom nights read 4°F or more warmer than Oswego.

Why is Pulaski colder than Oswego?

NOAA station records show Pulaski running a median 10°F colder than Oswego on the year's coldest night, and in the January 2014 cold snap it hit −27°F while Oswego saw −5°F. We haven't found a published explanation. It sits in the Salmon River valley at the foot of the Tug Hill, in the snow belt, and air over deep snow cools hard on clear nights. That may be part of it.

Does Lake Ontario protect fruit trees from frost?

Near the shore, yes. The lake rarely freezes over, so it keeps Oswego a median 6°F warmer than the Fulton airport on the year's coldest night, and in spring its cold water and lake breezes hold bloom back until frost danger passes. The help fades within a few miles of the water.

Can you grow cherries near Lake Ontario?

Yes. Fruit Valley Orchard runs u-pick cherries and Behling grows them in Mexico. Lapins and Black Gold have come through −35°F and Rainier and Stella −30°F, all of which clear the shore around Oswego. Sweet cherries bloom early (the 2012 freeze cut the region's crop 57 percent), so give them a drumlin or bench with a warm spring reading.

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.