Fruit Trees for Plattsburgh, Peru and the Champlain Valley of New York

On the morning of January 27, 1994, NOAA's Chazy station read −44°F. South Hero, out in the lake, read −31°F, and Dannemora, nearly 1,200 feet higher on the Adirondack front, read −25°F. That's 19°F across one stretch of the North Country on one morning, with the high ground warmest, and it's why picking fruit trees for Plattsburgh, Peru and the Champlain Valley of New York comes down to where you plant.

The map covers the New York shore from Keeseville and Port Kent north through Peru, Plattsburgh and Beekmantown to Chazy, west up the Saranac to Dannemora and Altona, and east to South Hero, Grand Isle and Isle La Motte in the Champlain Islands. 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 read it as a safe number to plan for, not a forecast 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 is built on. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder a spot runs than downtown Plattsburgh on a still, clear night at bloom.

The middle of the growing ground plans for −31°F, the coldest 5 percent for −35°F or colder and the warmest 5 percent for −27°F or warmer. Downtown Plattsburgh, the reference town, plans for −29°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −15°F). That's colder than anything the Plattsburgh International Airport station has recorded since 1995 (−25°F, in the 2008-09 winter), though the old Air Force Base station hit −34°F in 1981. The cold end is Chazy at −36°F. The warm end is Cumberland Head and Grand Isle Station at −26°F and Trembleau Mountain above Port Kent at −25°F.

Why the map looks the way it does

Everything in this airshed drains east to Lake Champlain, whose surface sits at 95 to 100 feet. The Champlain Lowlands climb west across old glacial lake beds to about 600 feet, then go up the Adirondack front to Dannemora at about 1,400 feet. The Ausable, Salmon and Saranac come down off that front, and the two Chazy rivers drain the north end. On a clear, calm night they carry cold air onto the plain, but most of a pool's cold is made in place as flat ground loses its heat to the sky, and a wide, flat basin can pool harder than a deep valley that drains. This plain has no north wall. It runs on past the border into the flat St. Lawrence country of Quebec.

That north end is the cold hole. NOAA's Chazy station, at 157 feet about a mile back from the shore at Chazy Landing, holds the map's record, −44°F on January 27, 1994. In the median year its coldest night runs 9°F colder than South Hero's, 8°F colder than the old Plattsburgh Air Force Base station's and 4°F colder than Dannemora's, nearly 1,200 feet higher. The Hemmingford station just over the line in Quebec is as cold. We haven't found a published reason, but the ground fits a hard pool: flat, open to the north, and wet clay with peat in places, the way the 1860 state gazetteer described the Chazy shore and the town of Champlain north of it. Sitting a mile from the lake doesn't save it.

The Adirondack front is the thermal belt. On January 18, 1974, Dannemora read −17°F while Chazy read −37°F: a cold pool on the plain with milder air riding over it. Dannemora also gets a longer frost-free season (156 days) than Chazy (144 days), and on the spring layer many of the hills along the front run 7°F to 11°F warmer than downtown Plattsburgh. The belt fails when arctic air comes in deep on a wind and higher ground runs colder. On February 4, 2023 the numbers flipped: Dannemora read −39°F, the coldest in its 109 years on file, while the Plattsburgh airport read −22°F. That morning, and an average yearly low of −20°F to the airport's −17°F, is why Dannemora plans for −33°F. Count on the high ground's edge at bloom, not in January.

Lake Champlain does the most for the islands. South Hero, at 108 feet out in the lake, runs 4°F milder in the median yearly low than either Plattsburgh station 8 miles west, and its 174-day frost-free season is the longest on the map. The National Weather Service in Burlington says freeze dates run later the closer you get to the lake, most of all at South Hero. The federal petition for the Champlain Valley of New York wine region gives the mechanism for the Vermont side: air crossing the lake eastward picks up warmth and moisture. The islands sit downwind of open water too, and the New York shore sits upwind.

A lake only shelters its shore while it's open. From 1850 to 1899 Champlain froze over in 49 of 50 winters; from 2000 to 2026 it froze in only 9 of 27, most recently February 13, 2026. Chazy's two worst mornings came with the lake shut: it closed February 7, 1993, the morning Chazy hit −41°F, and January 23, 1994, four days before the −44°F. Open winters are the rule now, but plan for the frozen ones.

Plattsburgh, Cumberland Head and the city shore

Downtown Plattsburgh sits on Cumberland Bay at about 140 feet where the Saranac comes in, on a low shelf 50 feet above the lowest ground near it: −29°F, MFTC 4a, typical winter −15°F. Within 3 miles the floor runs a median −31°F and the benches and warmest tenth of the growing ground −28°F. We haven't found any measurement of Plattsburgh's town heat, so treat any downtown edge as a bonus. Cumberland Head is the warm ground on this shore: −26°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −13°F), about even with downtown at bloom. Rocky Point, at the water on the bay side, plans for −28°F and runs 3°F colder at bloom. South of town, Cliff Haven and Parc plan for −28°F and South Junction by the airport −29°F, all within a degree of downtown at bloom.

West of the city, flat benches can fool you. Plattsburgh West sits 110 feet above its floor and plans for −28°F, but it's nearly level, so the cold it makes on a still night stays put and it runs 4°F colder than downtown at bloom. South Plattsburgh, on a 6 percent hillside along NY 22, plans for −29°F and runs 4°F warmer, because its cold slides on past. Around the city, Honeycrisp (−45°F), Cortland (−40°F), Toka plum (−45°F), Lapins cherry and Siberian C peach (−35°F) clear −29°F with room, and Contender peach and Liberty apple (−30°F) clear it with less. On the warmest lots of Cumberland Head, Blushingstar peach (−25°F) is worth a try in a sheltered spot.

Peru, Valcour and the apple country south of town

Peru bills itself as Apple Country, and it's been McIntosh ground since Northern Orchard went in in 1906. The land runs in strips parallel to the lake: in 1860 a belt of clay about 2 miles wide along the shore, then a sand plain with swamps about 4 miles wide, then light sandy loam toward the mountains. Firm, moist soil gives heat back on a frost night; peat and loose, dry ground give back less. Peru hamlet, at about 350 feet, plans for −28°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −15°F) and reads even with downtown Plattsburgh at bloom. Within 3 miles the floor runs −31°F and the warmest tenth −27°F. Valcour, on the shore by Valcour Island, plans for −28°F and runs 1°F warmer at bloom.

Toward the hills the bottoms get cold. Peasleeville and Harkness, both right on their local floors where cold off the hills collects, plan for −32°F and run 7°F colder than downtown at bloom. Cornell saw that pattern in the 1980-81 winter, when the trees in the low areas of one Peru planting died at the highest rate. The Peru station, 2 miles west-southwest of the hamlet at 510 feet, has a 30-year number of −27°F but read −34°F in 1942, 1957 and 1994, so leave yourself room: RubyMac and Empire apples, Bartlett and Seckel pears (all −35°F) and Black Ice plum (−40°F) give you that. Keep the bottoms for apples and bush fruit.

Keeseville, Port Kent and Ausable Chasm

The Ausable is the big cold-air chute in the south. It comes out of the Adirondacks through Keeseville and the 2-mile, 150-foot-deep Ausable Chasm to the lake. Keeseville, at about 420 feet where the river splits the village between Clinton and Essex counties, plans for −30°F (MFTC 3b, typical winter −16°F) and runs 3°F colder than downtown Plattsburgh at bloom. The benches within 3 miles plan for −28°F, so climbing out of the river's path buys you a couple of degrees in winter and more at bloom.

The slopes to the lake are some of the best fruit ground on the map. Ausable Chasm hamlet, on a hillside 190 feet above its floor, plans for −28°F and runs 7°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Port Kent, on a 13 percent slope to the water, plans for −29°F and runs 4°F warmer. Above them Trembleau Mountain plans for −25°F, and Cold Spring Mountain, between Peru and Keeseville, −26°F, with bloom nights 10°F to 11°F warmer: steep thermal-belt ground where the cold keeps moving past. This is where I'd put stone fruit on the New York side: Siberian C and Contender peaches (Tom McCamant grows Contender at Forbidden Fruit Orchard in Paradise, Montana, and it's the only commercial peach we know of that has taken −32°F), Westcot apricot (−45°F), Lapins and Gold sweet cherries (−35°F).

Morrisonville, Cadyville and the Saranac valley to Dannemora

The Saranac runs 81 miles from Upper Saranac Lake (1,572 feet) to Plattsburgh and makes two-thirds of its drop in the last third, a steep chute for cold off the Adirondacks. (Saranac hamlet isn't Saranac Lake; for that country, the Lake Placid and Saranac Lake map covers you.) Morrisonville, 5 miles west of downtown in the river bottom, plans for −29°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −16°F) and runs 6°F colder than downtown at bloom; the warmest tenth within 3 miles plans for −28°F. Schuyler Falls, on the Salmon River, plans for −28°F and reads about even.

Upriver, Cadyville, on a bench 130 feet above its floor, plans for −31°F and runs 1°F warmer than downtown at bloom; Woods Mills, on a hillside, −30°F and 3°F warmer. Saranac hamlet, at about 800 feet on the toe of the slope by the river, plans for −33°F (MFTC 3b, typical winter −18°F) and runs 7°F colder. Dannemora village, at about 1,400 feet, plans for −33°F (MFTC 3b, typical winter −17°F) and runs 4°F warmer than downtown at bloom. From Saranac up, lean on trees rated −40°F and colder, since Dannemora has seen −39°F: Haralson (−45°F), Zestar!® (−40°F), Evan's Bali cherry (−45°F) and Kerr applecrab (−50°F).

Beekmantown, Chazy and the north plain to Altona

North of Plattsburgh the plain widens and gets colder toward the border. Beekmantown, on a flat bench along NY 22, plans for −30°F (typical winter −16°F), but it holds its own cold and runs 5°F colder than downtown at bloom. Point Au Roche on the shore plans for −29°F and Ingraham, on US 9, −31°F. Chazy is the coldest town on the map: the hamlet, in a creek draw, plans for −36°F (MFTC 3a, typical winter −21°F) and runs 8°F colder than downtown at bloom, the worst spring reading of any town here. Coopersville, where the Great Chazy meets the lake, plans for −35°F and runs 6°F colder at bloom, and Canada Junction plans for −33°F and runs 7°F colder. The higher sand ground to the west does better at bloom: West Chazy plans for −32°F and runs 1°F warmer than downtown.

Chazy Orchards, billed as the world's largest McIntosh orchard, grows McIntosh, Cortland, Honeycrisp and Zestar!® on this plain; its bigger repeat trouble has been hail, in three of the six years before 2018. West of it, Altona sits on a bench at about 635 feet and plans for −34°F (MFTC 3b, typical winter −19°F). Cobblestone Hill, a 1.5-mile ridge of sandstone boulders, plans for −32°F with bloom nights 7°F warmer than downtown. Out here stick to trees rated −40°F and colder; Beekmantown and West Chazy can take the −35°F trees too.

South Hero, Grand Isle and Isle La Motte

South Hero village, at about 155 feet on Grand Isle (South Hero Island), plans for −27°F (MFTC 4a, typical winter −13°F). Within 3 miles the benches plan for −26°F and the floor −29°F. Grand Isle Station, on a bench 120 feet above its floor, plans for −26°F; Gordon Landing, where the ferry comes in from Cumberland Head, −28°F; Keeler Bay, on low ground at its bay, −29°F. The spring layer is a terrain model, and island ground is low and flat, so it reads South Hero and Grand Isle within a degree of downtown Plattsburgh or up to 4°F colder. The station record shows the lake's help better. South Hero's median last 32°F frost is April 27, 10 to 12 days ahead of the mainland stations, and in May 2023 Grand Isle County saw at most a light frost and Hackett's Orchard in South Hero had a normal crop.

Isle La Motte, near the lake's north end, sits closer to the Chazy cold. The village plans for −32°F (MFTC 3b, typical winter −17°F) and runs 2°F warmer than downtown at bloom, and The Head, the south tip where the oldest Chazy reefs crop out, stands 150 feet above its floor, plans for −29°F and runs 9°F warmer. On South Hero and Grand Isle, trees rated −30°F fit: Rainier cherry, Northern Spy, Harlayne apricot and Contender peach, plus RubyMac (Hackett's grows it) and Lodi (−45°F; Allenholm grows it). Across the lake, the Burlington, Stowe and Lamoille map takes over.

Spring frost and bloom on the Champlain shore

The spring layer follows the same drainage as winter, only harder. The worst bloom nights are on the flat north plain (Chazy 8°F colder than downtown Plattsburgh, Canada Junction 7°F, Coopersville 6°F), in the river bottoms (Saranac 7°F, Morrisonville 6°F), at the foot of the hills (Peasleeville and Harkness 7°F) and on flat benches (Beekmantown 5°F, Plattsburgh West 4°F). The best are the slopes and hills facing the lake: Cold Spring Mountain 11°F warmer, Trembleau Mountain 10°F, The Head 9°F, Rand Hill 8°F, Ausable Chasm 7°F, Port Kent and South Plattsburgh 4°F.

NOAA's 1991 to 2020 medians put the last 32°F frost at April 27 on South Hero, May 7 at Dannemora, May 8 at the Peru station and May 9 at Chazy. The last 28°F comes 11 to 13 days earlier. One year in ten the last 32°F frost comes after May 9 on South Hero, May 18 at Peru, May 21 at Chazy and May 23 at Dannemora.

That 1981 season is the local lesson: a 10-day February spell of highs of 60°F or more, then eight freezing nights between April 12 and 23, four of them down to 19°F to 21°F, then 26°F on May 18, about six days after McIntosh full bloom. The Champlain Valley crop came in at 38 percent of the year before. In May 2023, when Vermont lost about half its apple crop, the Champlain Islands kept a good crop, the valley got hit unevenly and inland orchards lost nearly everything.

Site comes first. Open blossoms of nearly every tree fruit start dying near 28°F (Michigan State's numbers), but only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop, and open haskap flowers take 19°F. So apples, honeyberries and currants can go lower, and apricots, peaches, plums and sweet cherries get the slopes that read warm at bloom. Through bloom keep the grass under 2 inches, don't till, and water a day or two before a frost night. None of that does much in a windy freeze; the warm slopes on the spring layer are a still-night pattern.

What the weather records say

The coldest readings in NOAA station records here: −44°F at Chazy (January 27, 1994), −39°F at Dannemora (February 4, 2023), −34°F at the Peru station (December 21, 1942, January 15, 1957 and January 27, 1994), −34°F at the old Plattsburgh Air Force Base station (January 4, 1981), −31°F at South Hero (January 27, 1994) and −29°F at Plattsburgh International Airport (January 12, 1968). Dannemora hit −36°F on December 29, 1933, the winter that killed many fruit trees on the islands, and Chazy read −35°F to −38°F three times in the 1970s.

Timing counts as much as depth. In December 1980 Peru fell 50°F, from 24°F on the afternoon of the 24th to −26°F the next morning, and Cornell found young McIntosh that had grown late into the fall weren't hardened and lost leaders or died. Trees on M.7 and MM.106 were badly hurt while trees on MM.111 next to them came through largely uninjured.

Our planning numbers come from winters since 1995-96, and the two worst mornings on record came just before that. The Peru station's own 30-year number is −27°F against three readings of −34°F, and Chazy's is −35°F against its −44°F, so pick trees with room to spare. USDA's older map put the Champlain Valley of New York wine region at 4b to 5b, built on the average winter; NOAA's average yearly lows here run from −15°F at South Hero to −24°F at Chazy.

What you can grow here

The lake shore, Cumberland Head and the islands, −26°F to −29°F (Cumberland Head, Cliff Haven, Valcour, the Port Kent and Ausable Chasm slopes, South Hero, Grand Isle). Trees rated −30°F and colder: Liberty, Northern Spy and Golden Russet (−40°F) apples; Harrow Sweet (−30°F) and Bartlett pears; Stanley (−30°F), Italian (−35°F) and Superior (−35°F) plums; Rainier, Lapins and Montmorency (−30°F) cherries; Contender and Siberian C peaches; Harlayne and Westcot apricots; Marquette and Frontenac grapes (−35°F).

The plain from Peru and Plattsburgh to Morrisonville, Beekmantown and Keeseville, −28°F to −31°F. Trees rated −35°F and colder: Honeycrisp, Haralson, Zestar!®, Cortland, Red McIntosh (−40°F), RubyMac, Empire and Lodi apples; Summercrisp (−40°F), Bartlett and Seckel pears; Toka, Black Ice, Superior and Italian plums (Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior, and our pollination maps show what pairs with what); Evan's Bali and Lapins cherries; Westcot and Sungold (−40°F) apricots and Siberian C peach on the slopes; La Crescent grape (−40°F). Where it plans for −29°F or warmer, the −30°F trees above fit too, with less to spare.

Chazy, the north plain and the Adirondack edge, −32°F to −36°F (Chazy, Coopersville, Canada Junction, West Chazy, Altona, Saranac, Dannemora, Isle La Motte village). Trees rated −40°F and colder: Honeycrisp, Haralson, Wealthy (−50°F), Zestar!®, Cortland and Red McIntosh apples; Kerr, Trailman (−60°F) and Centennial (−50°F) applecrabs (Ed Schultz saw zero winter injury on Centennial after a winter that hit −47°F); Bolshaya (−50°F) and Summercrisp pears; Toka, Brookred (−50°F) and Black Ice plums; Evan's Bali and Juliet (−50°F) cherries; and the bush fruit, Honeyberry, Montana Black Currant and Red Lake currant (both fruited well for us in 2026 after their flower buds saw about 22°F), and Nanking Cherry (−50°F). Lapins, Siberian C and Italian (−35°F) are worth a try at the Chazy end in the best spots.

Roots are the weak link in a hard winter, and snow is their best cover; at Ed Schultz's in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, Bud 118 apple rootstock has seen near −50°F under snow with no damage. Plattsburgh averages about 60 inches of snow, so keep it on the root zone. Plant on a slope, off the bottom and off the windswept top; Bob Purvis's rule is an east-facing slope, and Cornell's home-fruit advice is to avoid frost pockets and look for good air drainage and well-drained sandy loam. This is dry country in the Adirondack rain shadow, so water with drip, and taper it from mid-August so trees harden off before a December like 1980's. The local troubles are fire blight (bad in 2016 after warm, wet weather at the end of bloom), hail (more than 90 percent crop loss in places in July 2016), plum curculio, apple maggot and spotted wing drosophila. The lake clay is calcium-rich, so test the pH before planting blueberries; our Cold Climate Blueberry Bundle has come through −40°F. Our cold hardiness calculator sorts everything we sell by the coldest temperature it has come through.

Fruit history here

Apples came early to the Adirondack Coast. Jean-Baptiste Laframboise, Chazy's first settler around 1763, is credited with starting apple growing here, and Chazy Orchards, first planted in the 1920s, stands on the site of his first orchard. In Peru, four New York City men planted 90 acres of McIntosh as Northern Orchard in 1906 and shipped the apples to the city in barrels packed on ice; it now runs more than 400 acres. Forrence Orchards in Peru dates to 1833. The local reasoning for McIntosh is that it takes hard winters and ripens in a short season.

Grand Isle County once had more than 100 commercial apple orchards and was down to three by 2013. The Allens bought Allenholm Farm in South Hero in 1870 and began planting McIntosh widely in 1935, after the 1933-34 winter killed many fruit trees. Grapes have a foothold on the New York side too: the Champlain Valley of New York wine region was approved in 2016, and it grows cold-hardy hybrids like Frontenac, La Crescent and Marquette, since vinifera isn't reliable there.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Plattsburgh, NY?

On the bad night we plan for, downtown Plattsburgh is −29°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter low of −15°F. USDA's older map put the Champlain Valley of New York at 4b to 5b, but USDA zones are built on the average winter, not the bad night. Across this map our zones run from 4a on Cumberland Head, South Hero and Grand Isle to 3a around Chazy.

When is the last frost in Plattsburgh?

The nearest mainland stations with 1991 to 2020 frost dates (Dannemora, Peru and Chazy) put the median last 32°F frost at May 7 to 9, and one year in ten it comes as late as May 18 to 23. Out on South Hero it's April 27. The flat inland and the river bottoms frost latest.

Does Lake Champlain protect orchards from frost?

Yes, most of all on the islands. South Hero runs 4°F milder than the Plattsburgh stations in the median yearly low, and in May 2023 the Champlain Islands kept a good crop while inland Vermont orchards lost most of theirs. The lake only helps while it's open, and it froze over in just 9 of the 27 winters from 2000 to 2026.

Can you grow peaches in Plattsburgh?

Yes, with the right tree on the right slope. Siberian C has come through −35°F, which clears nearly all of this map except the coldest flats around Chazy, and Contender (−30°F) clears downtown's −29°F. For fruit, plant on slopes that read warm at bloom, like South Plattsburgh, Port Kent and Ausable Chasm (4°F to 7°F warmer than downtown).

Where are the frost pockets around Plattsburgh?

The north plain is the big one: Chazy plans for −36°F and runs 8°F colder than downtown Plattsburgh on a bloom night. Closer in, the Saranac bottoms at Morrisonville and Saranac run 6°F to 7°F colder at bloom, Peasleeville and Harkness 7°F colder, and flat benches like Beekmantown and Plattsburgh West 4°F to 5°F colder.

What apples grow best in northern New York?

McIntosh is the backbone at Chazy and Peru, with Cortland, Honeycrisp and Zestar!® in the orchards too. Around Plattsburgh and Peru, Honeycrisp, Cortland, Red McIntosh, RubyMac, Empire and Lodi all clear the planning low. On the north plain and the Adirondack edge, stick to apples rated −40°F or colder, like Honeycrisp, Haralson, Zestar!® and Red McIntosh.

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.