So lets start off with the good news. The fruit set is underway and for the trees that have fruit, they look good. Barring any bad weather or hail , they should do fine. Now for the other side of the coin. In almost 20 years of growing apples on a large scale, this is without a doubt, the worst I have ever seen it. Of the 14 varieties that we have, only 5 or 6 have actually set fruit. We have literally hundreds of trees that do not have any apples on them. I have kept very detailed records over the years and it basically boils down to weather. We had a very harsh winter and a prolonged and cooler than normal spring that ended with a frost on June 13. Way later than it should have been. All of these things put together, just did not help. Most of the trees survived and will probably do better next year....I hope. We did loose some trees because of the winter, but thats gotten to be a normal thing. We grow alot of trees that are zone 4 trees and when we have hard winters, they sometimes just cant handle it. So many things happened and all at the same time, so we will just deal with it.
On a brighter side, the trees that did ok, seem to be fine and should have a good crop. We will have a shorter season and the orchard will not be open as long as usual, but we can deal with that as well. The bees look to be having a good year at this point too, so thats a good thing. Lets keep our fingers crossed that we dont have any nasty storms in the next few months.
On a brighter side, the trees that did ok, seem to be fine and should have a good crop. We will have a shorter season and the orchard will not be open as long as usual, but we can deal with that as well. The bees look to be having a good year at this point too, so thats a good thing. Lets keep our fingers crossed that we dont have any nasty storms in the next few months.
