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2009 APPLE NEWS:
NEW NEWS:
APPLE UP-DATE - COLD JULY BACKS UP THE APPLE CROP!
ORDERS FOR ZESTAR AND HONEYCRISP GIFT BOXES HAVE STARTED TO ROLL IN. THIS PAST WEEK WE TOOK ORDERS FOR 120 10 POUND GIFT BOXES.
IF YOU WANT TO SEND A GIFT BOX CALL THE ORCHARD SOON: 715-653-2689. WE ARE CAPPING GIFT BOX ORDERS AT 500.
ZESTAR: THESE ARE NOW READY...SEE THE LISTING ABOVE. This is an early version of the Honeycrisp. I think it is sweeter and it does not have the tart taste of the Honeycrisp.
HONEYCRISP
THEY CONTINUE TO LOOK GREAT.
WE ARE ALLOWING PICK-YOUR-OWN ON HONEYCRISP.
THEY ARE RUNNING LATE THIS YEAR!
BE CAREFUL NOT TO BUY TELLOW / GREEN HONEYCRISP, SOME GROCERY STORES ARE SELLING NON-RIPE HONEYCRISP FROM SOUTHERN ORCHARDS!
CORTLAND APPLES: They are not ripe yet.
Greenings & Prairie Spy are available.
McIntosh just about ready!
ZESTAR: $1.75 / LB. THESE ARE VERY SIMILAR TO THE HONEYCRISP, PERHAPS A LTTLE SWEETER. We will have these available for Labor Day Weekend. We will only have pre-picked apples, we are color and size picking these right now. About 10 - 20% are ripe on each tree, this prevents us from opening them up to pick your own.
STATE FAIR: SOLD OUT FOR THE SEASON! GREAT Summer Apple. Great eating apple, it makes a great sauce and cider. The pies are great too, but they will be very juicy! We will have pick-your-own open on this apple this weekend, after this week end we will strip the trees and use this apple for; fresh apple sales, cider and for making apple syrup.
PRISTINE: SOLD OUT FOR THE SEASON! This very new apple from the U of Purdue, it is a great early yellow eating apple. We have high hopes for it as an early cider or wine apple. We planted these 3 years ago, we picked 4-5 bushels of them this year. Most went to family members, the rest (except for 3 trees I spotted while mowing today) sold out last weekend. Ask about this apple mid-August next year, production will be higher!
Red Free & William's Pride: SOLD OUT FOR THE SEASON!
McIntosh, Sweet 16, Cortland, Prairie Spies will be ready mid-Sept.
Honeycrisp will be ready on one rootstock plantation with very good sun exposure right after Labor Day. They will continue to ripen peaking around Sept. 20 - 28.
Up-dates on the rest of the apples will be available in 2 weeks.
HERE ARE OUR ORCHARD OBSERVATIONS:
- Water, water, water and then water some more! It is really dry this year, keep your new trees / plants damp!
- The dry weather has made apple scab less prevalent, but keep monitoring your leaves / fruit!
- I have traps out and have yet to catch the dreaded Apple Maggot Fly which is the main culprit with wormy
apples! But, as the soil warms and wet weather comes so will they....watch for them....they look like a deer fly
with a white dot on their backs!
APPLE CROP:
- BAD NEWS IS THE McINTOSH AND CORTLAND CROP LOOKS REALLY LIGHT THIS YEAR! I think we
will have enough for pick-your-own, but I'll have to bring in some apples from my leased production orchard in
Eau Claire.
- GOOD NEWS IS THE HARLSON, HONEY GOLD, GRANNY SMITH, WILLIAMS PRIDE, RED FREE,
STATE FAIR AND OTHER COMMON APPLES LOOK ABOVE AVG. TO VERY GOOD!
- THE OUTSTANDING NEWS IS THE HONEYCRISP ARE INCREDIBLE!!!. They set so nicely on the
pick-you-own trees in the ORCHARD that it looks like we placed them on the trees!!
- The apples are all developing at a very rapid pace. Last year we were 3- 4 weeks late with the early apples,
this year we may be a week or two early.
So what does that jibberish mean?
I think we will start picking early apples ( State Fair, William's Pride, red Free, Prestines, etc.) mid-August.
Honeycrisp could be as early as right after Labor Day, last year they were not ready until about Sept. 23rd due to the cooler than normal summer. This year is normal temps. and dry.
LOOK FOR US TO OPEN EARLY THIS YEAR!
PLEASE, SAY A LITTLE PRAYER IF YOU YEAR OF HAILor SEVERE STORMS IN NORTHERN POLK COUNTY...WE THEM TO MISS THE ORCHARD!
On another note, we will soon start bottling a few new wines later this week, or early next week.
ALSO, we are partnering with Northern Vineyards to produce a Harlson / Marshall Fosh (apple/grape) "BLUSH" WINE! IT IS CURRENTLY IN THE VAT!
AND, OUR 2008 HONEYCRISP WINES WILL BE GETTING FINISHED OFF AND BOTTLE BY MID-AUGUST!
WE WILL KEEP YOU UP-DATED!
Our Family Orchard (6000+ trees) is located in temperature zone 3 (cold). We grow primarily University of Minnesota "northern" apple varieties. Honeycrisp, Haralson, Honey Gold, Zestar, Sweet 16, and the new Snow Sweet Apples have been our focus, but we also have many other varieties such as Greenings, McIntosh, Cortland, Prestine and many sub-varieties of these apples.
BUT, SEVERAL YEARS AGO WE LEARNED THAT MANY ROOTSTOCKS SOLD AND MARKETED AS WEATHER HARDY ARE NOT!!
We had a cold long winter without any meaningful snow cover. Septic systems froze up, water lines froze and so did SOME of our TREES. About 900 mature (planted in 1984 - 1985) Trees died.
Interestingly we had rows in which every other tree was "DEAD" and the alternating tree had a bumper crop???
The difference was the rootstock.
We now partner with another Orchard in Northern Michigan and have our own trees grown at a nursery in Washington.
We have the nursery put our bud wood on very weather hardy rootstocks. The trees (18,000) are dug up in March (thaws earlier there) and our partner hauls them home. We then plant them when our grown thaws out.
AVAILABILITY OF ALL PRODUCTS IS VERY POOR IN 2010.
WE ONLY HAVE EXTREMELY LIMITED AVAILABILITY TO HONEYCRISP TREES, SORRY!
We will have some extra trees, but not a lot of them.
If you would like to buy some let us know ASAP!
CALL: 715-491-6978 (ORCHARD MOBILE), we are extremely busy in the spring (wine, apples, berries, vegetables, livestock) we tend not to have spare time to check e-mails,
so CALL...don't write!
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TREES AVAILABLE - everything is sold out! 7/16 - 1/2" diameter
EVERYTHING EXCEPT A FEW HONEYCRISP TREES IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE!
Honeycrisp Apples: (Minnesota's State Fruit) ripens over a long period of time, early to late September. Crunchy, juicy, sweet / tart. In addition to being an "outstanding" eating apple, We use these for wine, cider, pies, caramel apples & baking. Honeycrisp cider mixes well with Southern Comfort! They store very well!
Haralson:(SOLD OUT) Ripens late Sept. Tart, juicy, great flavor. This our Bakery's #1 choice for making pies! Good for eating, cider, caramel apples. Excellent with Spiced Rum!
Honey Gold: (SOLD OUT) Ripens late in Sept. or early Oct. When allowed to properly ripen it has a sweet "pear like" flavor. Thin skin & soft flesh. Excellent eating apple, makes a tasty pie and cider. Really good with a "smooth" vodka.
Zestar: Ripens a week or 2 before Honeycrisp. We started planting these 12 years ago when they were called Zestas. Very Zesty flavor, similar to honeycrisp.
Sweet 16: (SOLD OUT) Ripens mid - late Sept. Unique licorice flavor if allowed to properly ripen. Excellent eating apple. It is less popular now due to the Honeycrisp.
McIntosh & Cortland: (SOLD OUT) Ripen mid Sept., the Cortland has a firmer skin than the McIntosh. Both are good for eating and excellent for pies and cider.
Snow Sweet: (SOLD OUT) New U of Mn. apple. We just planted these last year. Surprisingly we had to take apples off of the young trees. Supposedly they ripen late in Sept. or early Oct. Similar to Connell Red's or Fireside apples but crisper.
Also Available: Montmorency (pie) Cherry Trees - Manchurian (flowering crab) Trees - Red Sensation & Starking Delicious Pear Trees - Blue Ray & Chandler (SOLD OUT) Blueberry Plants |
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sorry sold out for 2010
PRICES - PICK UP - PAYMENT
$22 ea.- Honeycrisp (125 left), Zestar (SOLD OUT), Snow Sweet (NOW gone), Honey Gold Trees (NOW GONE) (we have to pay a royalty to the University of MN)
$20 ea.- Sweet 16 (gone), Haralson (120 left), Cortland (gone), McIntosh (gone), Cherry, Red Sensation Pear & Delicious Trees
$18 ea. - Manchurian Crab Apple. 5.5% sales tax
$2 discount per tree if you buy 12 trees - $3 / tree if you buy 24 trees - $4 if you buy 36 or more.
We are planting 500 blueberry plants.
We will sell an additional 200! They are about 18" tall and potted,
Everything is sold out!
we will sell them for $10.
Blue Ray: medium, sweet - Chandler: very large berry, good for pick-your-own -
Jersey: smaller, very sweet, good for baking
We will have free tree planting guidelines & pruning instructions. We will also have tree protectors & deer repellent to purchase.
We require at least 50% down, credit card or check. We prefer you to call
(715-491-6978), but you can e-mail us (info@honeycrisp.net).
PICK UP LOCATIONS AND DATES:
Our WINERY & GRILLE: 120 N. Washington St. "downtown" St. Croix Falls, WI 54024 Dates: APRIL 23 - 24 ONLY
St. Croix Falls is located about 54 miles from downtown Mpls., just across the river from MN on Highway 8
OR BY APPOINTMENT AT THE ORCHARD.
We need: Your name:___________________ Phone number:_________________________ e-mail: ________________________
If paying by Credit Card:
Name on Credit Card:_______________________ Type of Card: _________________________ Expiration: ___/___/___
Credit Card Number: ________________________________ we accept: master/visa/discover |
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