Beyond the Forecast: Discovering what to expect for this upcoming apple season
CASCO, Wis. (WFRV) – Apple season is right around the corner and will be here sooner rather than later. With that being said, it’s never too early to dig into the details of what to expect for the upcoming season.
The mild winter into early spring was enjoyed by many as temperatures for a majority of the season ranged above average. The big question, however, was how this abnormally mild weather impacts the apple crop for the upcoming season.
Bill Roethle is one of the owners of Hillside Apples located in Casco. The business plants 25 varieties, including its most popular Honeycrisp, Cortland, and McIntosh. He says he was seeing the impacts of these warmer temperatures as it was happening.
“Our concern with the winter was when things were a bit warmer say in February and early March was it gonna turn the trees on early and get us with a premature bloom. That was kind of going on,” Roethle said.
And then, for apple orchards, things turned around for the better.
“Then we got toward the end of March and early April we got a week or week and a half of below normal weather which really stopped everything that was trying to start and helped us greatly I believe,” added Roethle.
Apple trees go through a series of nine stages. The first begins in late November into early December once the previous year’s harvest has been collected in what is called the dormant stage. Orchards will then see green tips emerge and eventually give way to pink tips where many orchards are at right now. The exciting moment is around stage eight where the trees begin to lose their petals, which is a signal that fruit will emerge in just over a week.
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As these plants progress toward the middle and later stages of the growing cycles, they become much more sensitive to colder temperatures than during the dormant stage. Northeast Wisconsin did experience a brief bout with cooler temperatures, as overnight lows on April 24 and April 25 dropped to below the freezing mark in many spots. Roethle says he saw these impacts as well.
“We did get down below 25 last week, we probably got a little bit of damage but very minimal. The further they go along, the less cold they can take,” Roethle stated.
Roethle explains that any more cooler nights could play a detrimental role in the upcoming crop.
“Our concern is as these trees advance, we are at the stage which is called pink so the blossoms are showing some pink, next step will be bloom. If we get any severe frost at this point, we could experience some crop loss.”
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Thankfully, the outlook is looking like another healthy year for apple production, as Roethle says things are already exceeding his expectations.
“We really don’t know what we are gonna get until things start to bloom like they are and I’m seeing a lot more blossoming and blooms than I thought we were gonna get. So I would say our crop at this point if things go through as it should we are gonna see an average or better than average size crop.”
This is great news to hear, as Roethle said his crop was very successful last year despite the drought during the summer of 2023. Hillside Apples is expecting to be open on time around Labor Day this year.
