Slim pickings at area apple orchards
BURLINGTON — Don’t be too picky.
That’s a comment at least one area apple grower has used regarding consumers and this year’s crop, according to a story in the MyRacineCounty.com website.
At Brightonwoods Orchard, just southeast of Burlington in Kenosha County, the apple harvest has gone from 6,000 bushels to 1,700, and the orchard expects to be finished for the season by Halloween.
Almost all area orchards are struggling this year, with some places losing up to 90 percent of their apple crops, said Bill Stone, co-owner of Brightonwoods.
The weather in 2012 wreaked havoc on the apples, going from an unseasonably warm March , followed by cold in April and a dry summer. Many apple trees went from budding earlier than usual to having blossoms killed by cold in less than two months. Apples that did manage to survive got hit with drought conditions in the summer, causing huge drops, Stone said.
While Brightonwoods normally has some 200 varieties of apples, some varieties this year—like the popular honey crisps—are in short supply or simply not available.
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