The 2012 New York State apple crop is coming in like many other fruit crops have this year, but with most farms growing a great variety of apples there are bright spots in what has been a difficult growing season.
According to Molly Golden of the New York Apple Association, apples, like many other locally grown fruit, are bearing a reduced crop at about ten days ahead of schedule. How good the crop is depended largely on location and luck when it came to the weather.
”There was no rhyme or reason this year,” Golden said. “The unseasonably warm temperatures in March woke the apples ‘wake up’ about six weeks too early and when the the weather pattern went back to normal the blossoms and buds froze.”
Golden said that Niagara and Orleans counties fared better than the areas east of Rochester, but across the board similar varieties are doing the best. Gala has been “the shining star of the year,” with cortland and honeycrisp apples also more abundant than popular varieties like red delicious and empire apples.
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