Good news so far for Michigan’s fruit crop after early bloom

An early spring may sound like a good thing to you and me. For a Michigan fruit grower, an early spring is a nightmare. So far, fruit growers’ nightmares are not coming true.

An extremely warm February and a warmer than average March caused Michigan’s fruit buds to develop very early. The early bud development made Michigan’s fruit crop vulnerable to frost damage. Bud and fruit blossom development occurred even earlier than in the extremely warm spring of 2012.

Nick Schweitzer of Schweitzer Orchards says his family has been growing apples north of Grand Rapids since 1976. Orchardists actually prefer a cool spring, which delays bud and flower development. If flowering can be delayed until May, the chances of a severe frost or freeze destroying their apple crop are very slim.

So Schweitzer was very worried when the family’s apple orchards were in full bloom last April. Growers believed that a frost that would destroy the crop was unavoidable.

The warm winter weather lasted into April, with only occasional light frosts. The fruit harvest in Michigan was spared.

Now, the early blooms are leading to early-maturing fruit crops, and fruit yields are larger than normal. Amy Irish-Brown, sustainability specialist at Valent USA, estimates Michigan will produce 26 to 28 million bushels of apples this year. That amount is above average, but is less than the 30 million bushels harvested the past two years. Brown says it’s rare for the apple crop to be large three years in a row.

Brown and Schweitzer agree that apples in Michigan are being harvested 10 to 15 days earlier than usual.

In fact, Brown advises us to start looking for our favorite Michigan fruits now, as most of the fruit is ripening earlier than planned. She says that peaches are being harvested now, so if you usually get your Michigan peaches in the second half of July or early August, you’d better start looking for them now.

The sweet cherry harvest started 10 days early in southwest Michigan and is now complete. Cherry harvesting in the Traverse City area began this week. Brown says the official estimate of the cherry harvest in the Traverse area is 90 million pounds. Last year, northwest Lower Michigan harvested 67 million pounds. West-Central Michigan will harvest 61 million pounds and Southwest Michigan harvested 18 million pounds. That’s a lot of cherries.

Due to the “non-winter” winter, early spring and above-average temperatures in June, blueberry harvest has begun in Michigan.

According to Irish-Brown, the strawberries also ripened very quickly due to the warm spring and the hot air dome above us, right at harvest time in June.

The apple harvest starts early at Schweitzer Orchards near Sparta. Brown advises shoppers to look for the label that says “Grown in Michigan.” Brown suggests two newer apple varieties that everyone should try. The Ambrosia apple is a yellow apple with a reddish tint. It is a crisp, sweet apple with a hint of acidity and should be ripe in late September. Evercrisp is an apple variety that is a cross between a Honeycrisp and a Fuji apple. It ripens very late and stores well in the refrigerator for months. Look for Evercrisp in stores and at farmers markets just before Halloween.

Unless Mother Nature gets angry, there should be plenty of fruit in Michigan this year. Growers aren’t counting their harvest until it’s ready because severe weather can quickly change the condition of the crop. Schweitzer says fruit growers are worried about large hail and heavy thunderstorms until the harvest is ready.