LA PORTE COUNTY, Ind. -- Of all the fall staples are coming off the vine or the limb this time of year, it isn’t just the weather that we’re seeing closer to harvest time that affects the apple crop, but conditions through the year.
“We're blessed to have that lake here, which kind of helps keep some of that warm air in our area, and it keeps that frost damage and chance down. So, for us, that's a big help. And really, if you can get through the winter and you can keep the frost away from the apples you want to keep away from, hopefully those spring storms not get hail and then go into the summer months pretty carefree.”
Carey Garwood from Garwood Orchards says weather conditions earlier in the growing season, like frost and hail, are the biggest worry for an apple farmer, with the trees being in the elements all year round. It isn’t just weather, but people’s actions this year that can affect next year's crop.
“So, when you look at the apple trees, even now, this is next year's apple on the tree, so that, you know, needs to survive the winter to turn into an apple. You don't want to go yanking all these apples off, you know, willy nilly. And we tell people when you pick apples to twist and pull, because otherwise, when you're yanking this off, you're yanking fruit for next year off the tree.”
General wildlife as well, the orchard has various ways of stopping deer, mice, and rabbits from eating young trees.
So how do we compare it to the perfect year for Michiana’s apple growers?
Thanks to fairly stable conditions all year round, Garwood says that this year was anything but rotten to the core.
“This would be pretty close to a perfect year for us. As far as you know, how the weather went, how the season went, the apples look great.”
Garwood tells me that the colder months where the blooming season begins has more of an effect on the apple crop than the summer growing months.
“We've had frost damage before. That's, you know, really killed a great deal of our crop. This was not one of those years. We're very fortunate that we had great weather this year, really. Had a few cold snaps, but nothing terrible.”
While other seasonal crops can be affected by the dry conditions we’ve been seeing, apples are a little more resilient to the drought.
“This year, you couldn't have had a better harvest time. A lot of people talk about a drought or how it affects them. Maybe in grain farming, for us, it makes it easier to get out and harvest the crops. So less, less, less rain was okay, by that time of year”
Apple orchards are usually open through November, with different varieties ripening at different times, so even with storms in the forecast this weekend, you’ll be able to add an orchard visit to your fall checklist.