Pick-Your-Own Apples to Start Later this Year

   We now have a good supply of harvested 'Crimson Crisp' and 'Sun Gala' apples for sale.  Small amounts of a few other early-ripening apple varieties, and selections from my apple breeding program, will start ripening over the next few weeks.  We have a smaller crop of early-ripening apples this year due to a late freeze on April 16, which killed most of the open blooms on the earlier apples.  I harvest all the early apples, since we don't have many, and some will drop if not harvested promptly.  Prices of harvested apples are detailed in the previous blog post, dated Sept. 9 (scroll down or click on Older Posts).

We now have harvested 'Crimson Crisp' (left) and 'Sun Gala' (right) apples for sale. I give taste samples.

   Our pick-your-own apple season will start later in Sept. than most years, as the high heat lately is delaying ripening of 'Enterprise' apples.  As shown in the sidebar at left, I've now pushed back the start of the pick-your-own apple season until about Sept. 26.  'Enterprise' apples will be most numerous for pick-your-own customers during the entire month of October, as they are every year.  'GoldRush' apples, our latest-ripening apple variety, do not start ripening until late Oct., and are most numerous for pick-your-own customers during the first half of Nov.

These 'Enterprise' apples are still a week or so from ripe enough to pick, so our pick-your-own season will start about Sept. 26.

   When our pick-your-own apple season does start, the price is $1.00 per pound + tax for #1 apples (practically perfect) and $0.79 per pound + tax for #2 apples with cracks, bird pecks, or other surface damage.  Those who pick over 40 pounds total (#1's + #2's) get a discount, so #1 apples cost $0.93 per pound + tax and #2 apples cost  $0.74 per pound + tax.
   Pick-your-own means that you harvest apples from the trees, and you buy whatever you harvest.  Selecting your own apples from ones that I've harvested means that you pay the harvested price.  We do not allow kids to "help" our workers or me by picking more apples than you want to buy.
   We're now sold out of cracked pecans until mid- to late Nov., when the new pecan crop starts.