Styer Orchards readies for spring with huge additions to fields. Here's the plan

Spring approaches and at one of Lower Bucks County’s beloved farms, Styer Orchards, the growing season begins with nearly 1,000 new fruit trees.

Tim Field, the second generation in his family to oversee, operate and farm the township-owned orchard off Woodbourne Road, said the new additions are needed.

He, and the community and patrons who come out to carry on the pick-your-own tradition each season, will see the literal fruits of his labor in about three years. Planning is everything at the orchard.

Here's a look at what's coming:

What kinds of trees will be planted at Styer Orchards this season?

Cherry, apple and peaches. Half will be peaches, the other half cherry and apple, Field said.

That’s a lot of trees. Will they fit?

“Oh, sure, you can get a lot of trees on just a few acres,” Field said.

The cherry trees will be on a midget-type root stock, so they can be planted closer together in what farmers call a high-density orchard.

The peaches will be planted on two five-acre fields along Langhorne-Yardley Road near the Langhorne-Middletown firehouse.

“They are about at the end of their life,” Field said. “They’re 20 years old, they’ve all grown together, their branches are starting to break. There’s also another five acres of empty field on the other side that had been peaches when we first got here, but they were 30 years old back then, and we ripped them out. That’s where the new peaches will be.”

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What varieties will be planted?

Tart cherry, three varieties of peach and four varieties of apple.

Tart cherry? Why not sweet cherry? Tastes better, right?

It’s all about pie baking.

“Tart are for pies,” Field said. “They have more flavor, but less sugar, so when you bake a pie, you use tart cherries, but add the sugar. Sweet cherry — they fall apart when you bake them. It’s why you use a Stayman (apple) to bake a pie instead of a Red Delicious. Staymans are tart but hold together better.”

Didn’t know Styer Orchards had cherry trees

“It’s something we’ve been missing for a few years, and they’re very popular, but they’re not grown in a lot of places,” Field said.

The older cherry trees had grown so tall Styers needed a bucket truck to harvest and tend them. The new cherry trees will be lower to the ground, making picking easy.

Is that because birds eat the cherry profits?

“Not so much the tart. They’ll peck ’em, then decide they don’t like ’em,” Field said. Still, birds can be stubborn and will insist on eating even tart cherries.

What about the peaches at Styer Orchards?

The main variety will be Red Haven, which comes in around mid-July.

“My favorite. I think it’s the best peach,” Field said.

The others are Loring, which come in about seven days after the Red Havens, and Autumn Star, which come in 14 days after the Red Havens.

And the apple trees?

Field will plant about 200 apple trees, among them Stayman, Fuji, Golden Delicious and Arkansas Black. He picks them up in April and will plant them right away.

“It’ll take us a few days to get them in,” he said.

Any plans for 'agritainment' at Styer Orchards?

“It’s important that we keep up the idea that Pops (Styer) left us, which is that this place should always be an orchard. We have the option to do more agritainment, but we’ve never really gone past hayrides and corn mazes. So we really want to stick with what we do best. I mean, there’s nothing more important than what the name tells us — it’s Styer Orchards.”

JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Styer Orchards planning big spring additions to its fields