Posted in Uncategorized, tagged McIntosh News, New England Apple Association, New England apples, Red Apple Farm, Summer 2015 McIntosh News on August 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »
The trees are loaded at New England’s apple orchards, like this one at Red Apple Farm, Phillipston, Massachusetts (Russell Steven Powell photo)
THE FIRST early season New England apples are already being picked!
To learn more, and to find out what we have planned this fall for the 80th anniversary of the nonprofit New England Apple Association, click on this link for the Summer 2015 McIntosh News.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged apple brownies, Apple Hill Farm, Bar Lois Weeks, Belltown Hill Orchards, Birdie's Favorite Apple Brownies, Chuck Souther, Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Greg Parzych, integrated pest management, IPM, John Rogers, McIntosh News, New England Apple Association, New England apples, Pete Rogers, Rogers Orchards, Russell Steven Powell, Sentinel Pine Orchards on April 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Green-tipped apple leaf buds beginning to emerge April 23 at Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Deerfield, Massachusetts. (Russell Steven Powell photo)
THE LONG WINTER and cool spring may be frustrating to heat-starved New Englanders, but it is good news for the region’s apple growers. An early spring — as occurred in 2010 and 2012 — forces a premature bloom in the apple orchard, putting the delicate flowers and nascent apples at risk of frost damage for an extended period.
This year is more normal, from an apple perspective. You can see the dramatic difference in our Spring 2015 McIntosh News, the quarterly newsletter of the New England Apple Association. A photograph taken at Belltown Hill Orchards in South Glastonbury, Connecticut, on April 5, 2012 (page 7), shows smudge pots beneath green grass and budded trees, a strategy for limiting frost damage.
This spring, photographs from Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield, Massachusetts, (page 1) nearly three weeks later on April 23, shows green-tip buds just emerging. Bloom is expected around May 10 or later at most of the region’s apple orchards.
There is plenty more in McIntosh News, including:
If you haven’t seen the series already, it is well worth it, and if you have already viewed them, they are well worth watching again at this critical time of year, when many orchard pests are re-emerging after a winter of dormancy.
The engaging and informative programs star apple growers John and Pete Rogers and Greg Parzych of Rogers Orchards in Southington, Connecticut, and Chuck Souther of Apple Hill Farm in Concord, New Hampshire.
We hope you enjoy the videos and newsletter, and we welcome your feedback and comments.
Russell Steven Powell
Editor
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Bar Lois Weeks, Brookfield Orchards, McIntosh News, New England Apple Association, New England apple orchards, New England apples, Russell Steven Powell, Spencer apple on January 5, 2015| Leave a Comment »
Spencer apples, Brookfield Orchards, North Brookfield, Massachusetts. (Russell Steven Powell photo)
HERE IS a link to our special winter edition of McIntosh News, the quarterly newsletter of the New England Apple Association:
The issue features a photo essay of the New England apples booth in the Massachusetts Building at the Eastern States Exposition (“The Big E”) by Executive Director Bar Lois Weeks. The 17-day fair attracted more than 1.5 million visitors this year in the middle of the fresh harvest, from September 12 through September 28.
Check it out — you might recognize yourself or someone you know. In addition to people, the photographs show stellar examples of the fall apple crop, and serve as a reminder to ask for New England grown apples in your supermarket. They should be available in most places until late spring, at least.
New England Apples 