Updated: Wed. April 15, 2025
The discovery of apple maggot for the first time last fall has prompted the change. The amount of time and effort required to deal with the pest in an organic way is too much for one person. Apple maggots get into the apples and make the apples less applealing to eat. Since we use organic practises we have chosen to try to bag as many apples as possible with a mesh type bag. The fruit protection bags prevent the maggot fly from laying eggs on the apples.
The two most labour intensive tasks in the orchard are pruning the apple trees and thinning the apples. This year we will also have the task of putting fruit bags over the apples so the apple maggot flies cannot lay their eggs on the apples.
Pruning usually starts mid April and ends near the end of May. We normally do multple passes through the orchard, the early pass is to eliminate crossing branches and water sprouts. Later passes involve removing dead branches and opening up the canopy for more light. The work group size will normally be small since most volunteers will likely have little experience pruning. Likely just Frank and up to 3 helpers. Training is provided.
Apple thinning starts about the third week in June and goes on for about a month. Apple trees produce clusters of apples usually about 5 apples per cluster. We pick off or cut off all of the apples in a cluster except one. Comercial orchards use chemicals to thin the apples, organic orchards do this by hand. Thinning the apples allow the apples to grow larger and helps to keep the trees from going biannual. This year we will add the task of putting a bag on the tiny apples, they will grow as the summer progress and fill the bag.
I think most people will enjoy helping just to get away from the city to enjoy the quietness of the country. Most years we do not have enough apples for everyone. Volunteers will have first chance to buy the apples. The first day we open, only volunteers will be invited to pick apples.
The main motivation to keep the orchard open and running is all the thank-you's that we receive in the fall, there is minimal financial compensation for the work that is done. This year we plan to donate half the revenue received from the sale of apples to a charity of the volunteers choice as a thank-you to the volunteers and to support our community. The other half should cover the direct operating costs involved in running the orchard.
Just send an email to frank@attracted2apples. Since this whole thing is new, I am not sure exactly how we will communicate. Likely a combination of emails, google docs, webpage. We will see what works for most people.