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Our Pick-your-own Apples System


Tree Plan    


We now have over 80 varieties of apples, including many rare ones! More on the way as trees mature.

We have developed a system to make it easier for our customers to find the varieties of apples which are ripe. As the trees are not in any specific "row", we can't rope off an area like many orchards do.

THIS IS HOW IT WORKS:

Each tree in the orchard has a small wooden tag with the type of apple carved into it. The tags are hanging near the bottom of the trunk.

Hanging beneath this tag is a small painted spool. The spool is painted either:

RED - ORANGE - YELLOW - GREEN - BLUE

      

The color on that tree will give you an indication of the time of the year that it is ripe. The colors represent the following general order:

 

Color Order Ripening Period
RED First to ripen Early September
ORANGE Second to ripen Mid September
YELLOW Third to ripen End of September - Early October
GREEN Fourth to ripen Beginning to Mid October
BLUE Last to ripen Mid October to November

Of course, this is only a guideline, and some years your favorite apple will be at its peak ripeness a week later or a week earlier. Also, if you prefer more tartness, you may want to pick the apples a week or two early.

So, for example, if you were to come on opening day (Labor Day), then we would advise you to pick only from those varieties that have a "RED" Spool hanging from the tag; in late September, we would advise you to pick the "Orange" and "Yellow" colors.

We have had very positive feedback from customers after their kids were able to run off in search of the "Red" spools or, later in the season, anything except "Blue".

We hope this adds to your picking experience. We welcome your comments and feedback!

Thanks for reading this section.

- Greg & Katy