Welcome Winter!

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Patty Doll

Welcome Winter!  Within the last six weeks, the orchard has gone from trees laden with fruit to be harvested to  the first appreciable accumulation of snow today.  Winter has arrived in the Midwest and a bit earlier than we would have liked.  However, the first lesson learned in the orchard business is to accept the things that can’t be changed and weather is at the top of this list. Continue reading →

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Early September Update: How We Pick Apples

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Patty Doll
One of our friend's showing off his apple picking technique.

One of our friend’s showing off his apple picking technique.

So, what’s new at the orchard? As the waning days of August become the first days of September, we continue our efforts to harvest apples.  The Gingergold have been picked, as also the Gala.  We are finishing the McIntosh and the Honeycrisp this week.  Cortland apples are approaching their maturity as are the Empire, Yellow Delicious and soon the Red Delicious will also be ready to pick.

Continue reading →

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Eating v/s Cooking Applies

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Patty Doll

361As I explain the characteristics of our apples at market, customers often ask what qualities differentiate an “eating” apple from a “cooking” apple.  First, it is important to keep in mind that any variety of apple can be cooked and any variety of apple can be eaten fresh out of hand.  What makes the difference is the customers’ expectations.  This is the reason I always ask at market what the customer wants  the apple to do.  Do you want an apple that totally looses it shape when cooked?  Do you want an apple that cooks tender but the slices stay whole and intact?  Do you want to sauce it, make apple butter?  Do you want to dry it or make dumplings? Do you want to keep it for long term storage?  How YOU as the consumer want to use the apple should be the determining factor in choosing the variety of apple. Continue reading →

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2014 Market Schedule

Posted on August 10, 2014 by david

We have determined our Market Schedule for 2014:

Wednesday:
Whites Sale Barn, Brookville, IN (Highway 52)
Rain or Shine, Daylight until sellout

Friday:
Greensburg, IN: South side of the Courthouse Square Rain or Shine, 2PM – 6PM

Saturday:
Batesville, IN: Town square
Rain or Shine: 8AM-11AM

North Vernon, IN: Town Park
Rain or Shine, 8AM-1PM

Apples are also featured by GreenBean Delivery within the Tri-State area.

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Summer Rains, Cool Temperatures and Delayed Harvest

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Patty Doll

Gingergold Apples have not ripened as soon as we had hoped.  Looking like we are about

'Gingergold' apples in late July. We will begin harvesting these beauties in a week.

‘Gingergold’ apples in late July. We will begin harvesting these beauties in a week.

seven days behind our usual picking schedule.  There is no need to be concerned.  This delay in harvest is due to milder temperatures experienced this season. Cooler temperatures experienced during the cell division period (spring and early summer) prolongs this stage of growth, leading to an increase in the number of divided cells within the apple. This will delay harvest, but leads to larger fruit. Milder temperatures also increase anthocyanins, which provide color to the apples.

Continue reading →

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Picking the First Apples!

Posted on July 6, 2014 by Patty Doll

Apple harvest has begun at the orchard!  This past week we have picked a small amount of Early Harvest and Lodi apples.  These two varieties are minimal in the orchard,  just one tree of Lodi and four trees of Early Harvest and thus not enough for customer sales.  However, it is the beginning of the season and in three to four weeks we will be busy picking our Ginger Gold apples.

Continue reading →

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Early June Update

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Patty Doll

May has faded into the warm days of June.  Mother Nature has blessed us with sufficient rainfalls and the storms of summer has so far evaded our area.  Threatening dark clouds and storm warnings worry those of us in the orchard business.  A beautiful crop of fruit can become less beautiful in a short time with a hailstorm.  No matter the size of the hail, the apples are now at a growth stage that any hail will cause damage to the fruit.  While the actual fruit is not damaged, hail causes “cosmetic” damage as it marks the apples with indentations.

An apple damaged by Hail. Photo sourced from: http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/tfabp/Misc/2.jpg

     Growing conditions have been very good in our region.  The grass continues to grow as do the weeds.  We continue to use the mower, weedeater and as little herbicides as we can as we maintain the orchards throughout the summer.  Applications of fungicides and insecticides continue to be an important program as the fruit puts on growth and continue to need protection.  We are starting to discover small areas of fire blight which is a bacterial infection of the branches of the trees.  We try to control this disease by pruning those infected branches and destroying them so the infection can not be spread.  Fire blight is a serious disease in an orchard and must be treated aggressively.  Passive attention to it can cause an “epidemic.”  Trees actually die from a fire blight infestation. 
 
     Every orchard has a “June drop” and we have experienced a rather heavy drop this year.  “June drop” is a shedding of fruit by the tree itself and is nature’s way of thinning.  Some factors affecting this “drop” is a lack of good pollination usually due to a shortage of bees in the orchard.  Another cause of  a larger “June” drop this year is the extremely large harvest of fruit last season.  Trees drop their load to protect themselves.  It is just part of nature and needs to be accepted as such.  Nature takes care to protect itself. 

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Apple Bloom – 2014

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Patty Doll

The bloom in the apples was breathtaking!  Cool temperatures allowed for an extended

Full bloom of an 'Anoka' apple blossom.

Full bloom of an ‘Anoka’ apple blossom.

bloom and a longer pollination period.  The severe winter affected the honey bees in our orchard.  Eighty percent of the hives did not survive the winter thus creating a need to purchase bees from outside sources.  We had always toyed with the idea to experiment with bumble bees and the need to find other “pollinators” this year made our decision rather easy.  We purchased several hives and placed them in the apple orchard.  From the first day onward, these creatures worked incessantly.  Bumble bees work under more adverse weather conditions than honey bees and we were pleasantly surprised at their work habits.  Overall, this experiment with bumble bees had “fruitful” results.
 
 Now, it is time for the agonizing decisions of thinning the varieties that are heavy in fruit set.  Thinning is done to reduce the harvest. Without it, there would be too much fruit on each tree, affecting the size of the apples.  The thinning process also helps the tree by  eliminating stress to it if the tree is heavily laden. Miscalculations  in the use of thinning chemicals could actually wipe out an apple crop.  Too much is never good in the applications of thinners.  Upon examination some varieties this year look good as they are, while others have too much fruit set.  
 
We had no blooms in the peach orchard.  Absolutely, none.  Purdue University reports a major loss in peach production throughout the state of Indiana and in our neighboring states as well.  
 
Mowing and weed control are underway in the orchards.  It’s a good thing that I like to use the mower and weed eater because both the grasses and the weeds are experiencing tremendous growth.  We make good efforts to eliminate overuse of herbicides in our orchards but in so doing, we have to use more labor intensive methods of control.   Continue reading →

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Mid-April Update: Preliminary Crop Assessment from Cold Winter

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Patty Doll

New trees arrived from the nursery on the first day of April and nothing more uplifting than tree planting.  There’s a good feeling of being one with nature when we plant the new tree stock.  Rainfall was plentiful just before the planting took place but overall conditions were conducive and now there are more trees added to the orchard.  All the plantings were apple trees.  Experimenting with a few new varieties at the request of some of our customers and also planted some “tried and true” varieties.  Some stock replaced trees that died due to disease and some were replacements for varieties that did not meet our expectations for our customers.

There will be no peaches in the orchard this season.  The winter cold devastated the fruit bud and there has not been one bloom in the orchard.  Sad when we look over and what was a burst of beautiful pink blossoms last year is now trees waiting to leaf out.  Ten degrees below zero is about the lowest temperature that our peach root stock can withstand and still have fruit bud.  This year we registered twenty to twenty-five degrees below zero for an extended period of time.  Just too cold!  It was Richard Hayden of Purdue University  that warned for every degree below minus 10 degrees a grower could expect a 10% reduction in crop production.  His warning was quite accurate this year as all fruit bud was destroyed in the prolonged cold temperatures of this past winter.

Tho weeks ago, we suffered another winter blast and had frost, freeze and nineteen degrees two nights.  Undoubtedly, there will also be some damage to the apples.  Although, more hardy than peaches, apples do not withstand that dip in temperatures without some adverse affects.  As we approach bloom we will have a more accurate appraisal of damages in the apples.

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Late March/Early April Update: Approaching Bloom!

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Patty Doll

The calendar declares spring has arrived in Indiana and yes, the air still holds the chill of winter but the longer hours of daylight and the bright sunshine gives us a boost in our attitude.  Whatever Mother Nature still has in store for us, well, it won’t last forever!

We are ready for bloom!  Our pruning is finished and the orchards are raked, mulched and ready for the swelling of buds and bursts of blossoms that officially signal our “Opening Day.”  We are sure that the subzero winter temperatures negatively affected the peaches.  We anticipate a major reduction in the peach production.  To what degree will be determined as bloom occurs. Apples have good fruit set and our production outlook is  promising. However, we learned a long time ago that as growers we can do everything right but it is Mother Nature that has the final say.

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