Well, we are a little past the midway point of apple season in Henderson County. The news is good so far. With another month to go in the harvest season, there haven’t been any major hail reports, the spring freezes were minimally damaging, the yields are respectable, quality is average or better and prices are decent for a change.

For apple lovers everywhere, it’s time to go visit your local farm or supermarket and look for NC apples. You’ll find a variety of apples at this time of year. Some of the later varieties are yet to get ripe and they are always some of the best. But, there are many varieties already available that will satisfy that apple craving that the cool fall weather brings upon us.

For the apple season to be successful, a lot of things must go right. Apple growers in Henderson County face a difficult and expensive task in bringing their crop of tasty apples to the consumer. Late spring frosts and freezes, hailstorms, several disease problems, insect outbreaks, wind, excess rain or drought are all obstacles our farmers must overcome to produce our wonderful apples.

So far, this year has been special compared to recent crops. With significant losses in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and other apple growing regions due to spring freezes, the tight market has helped boost prices for NC apples. While the season has not been perfect and some growers were impacted by spring frosts here in Henderson County, it has been better than our most recent years.

Over the last few years, our growers have faced devastating freezes, massive widespread hailstorms not to mention a hurricane with flooding and devastating winds. This is in addition to the couple of plant diseases that are always tough to manage.

Yields are reasonably decent for the crop this year. The persistent heat has moved maturity along faster and harvests are running about 10 days earlier than normal. While Henderson County usually picks later varieties like Granny Smith and Pink Lady well into November, the harvest may be done by late October or earlier this season.

Processors have been coming to Henderson County looking for apples because of the shortage north of here. While the apple industry in Henderson County still produces a fair number of apples for processing, this is good news for them. There is high demand for Henderson County apples.

The last time we had a really good yield in Henderson County was 2022 and prices were horrible as every apple producing region seemed to have a bumper crop. In addition, Washington state had plenty of storage apples and that helped lower the price as well.

It seems the stars all line up very infrequently for apple producers and farmers in general. But for our Henderson County growers, this has been a kind year. We certainly hope for more years of this nature in the years to come.

So, don’t procrastinate about getting out to pick some apples or just buy a bag or box from your local grower. The season may be over a little early and you don’t want to miss out on this year’s harvest. The hot weather has probably held folks back from getting out to the orchard. But, the weather has cooled and now is prime time to visit your local farm.