Friends of Pipers Orchard

Don reports:

Today I collected a record of just how the apples and pears are doing in the Piper orchard and I can compare this to last year…..I have made a record of it for two years now.

I believe that overall, the apples are a little bit bigger, but they seem to be more scarce. I think the July rains helped the sizing….as did the general moderation in abundance (last year was huge).

The pears are essentially absent from the trees, however.

The apple scab problem seems to be much less than last year….which is encouraging.

I am most happy with the Yellow Transparent tree which was covered by mosquito netting…..the ten to twelve apples on this tree all nicely sized on this little tree appear to be blemish free and actually quite tasty….they are coming into ripeness now…..this tree actually can be showcased.

Most of the trees, of course, look good, tree-wise, but apple-wise, still won’t compare in either taste or quality to fruit in a good Farmer’s market.

final note: You have a little Spitzenburg apple tree (you mentioned this Jeffersonian variety to me) that is a recent planting near the trail head and it has one little apple on it now…..

We also have a garbage can for people to throw the “grounder” apples in and R. will periodically clean it.