What had been a relatively mild winter season has now become a normal January in Indiana, snowy and cold. We were blanketed with about eight inches of snow these past few days and temperatures dropped into the teens. Less than a week ago we were working in the orchard with sweatshirts and now will have to don insulated pants and boots.
Our new season starts when we begin pruning. Pruning or trimming the trees ready them for the upcoming production season. Thus, pruning the apple trees has been our main focus of the past several weeks. Taking advantage of the mild temperatures we were able to start the annual pruning and trimming of the older apple trees about three weeks ago. Pruning is tedious and at times more challenging than we want but it is a necessary element in fruit production. Not only is it a time to remove extra growth and dead limbs from the trees, it is also a time to determine the overall condition of the trees as a result of insect damage, root damage, rodent damage and soil conditions.
Our area was hit by an ice storm in early December. Because last fall was so wet many of the trees had not dropped their leaves when the storm system moved through. Consequently the weight of the ice on the leaves and the wet ground caused some of our trees to uproot themselves. We suffered the loss of quite a few of our new trees in the orchard, these breaking off at the graft or at ground level. Disappointing to nurture and care for them for over seven years and then find them broke off and laying on the ground. Remove and replant is the only option when this happens.
The Pick-Your-Own orchard continues to draw interest from our customers. If the season progresses as we hope, this part of our business should be available for operation this fall. Mother Nature plays an important role in agricultural endeavors, however, so we will have to see what develops over the next several months.