Madison apple harvest good

Following the trend set by the peach and grape crop, Madison County apples matured early and may have a shortened season.

Though the apple crop in Madison County may not have suffered much in quantity from the weather this summer it sped up the apple ripening, Extension Agent Brad Jarvis said. Madison lost about 10 inches of rain this summer compared to last summer, Jarvis said.

“The apple crop looks pretty darn good,” Jarvis, who works in the Madison Cooperative Extension Service office, said recently. “We do have drought-related problems with apples as far as size is concerned, but as far as numbers are concerned it looks pretty good.”

Additionally, apples may be a little smaller this year than in previous years, but the flavor will be the same, Jarvis said.

(With the apples) some varieties have a good load and are small but most are a decent size,” Lucky Graves of Graves Mountain Lodge’s farm said. “Apples are about the same as last year – flavor is consistent, only thing that’s changed is the ripening date.”

The Graves orchard is around 100 acres and sells directly to the public.

However, people interested in getting county-grown apples from a grower or at the Madison County Farmers Market, may find it best to go soon.

“We had an average peach crop, I think the dry weather had more of an effect on peaches than apples (there are) some peaches still out there but not many, yields were down, (though) the apple crop seems respectable,” Jarvis said. “(However) lack of moisture and hot weather tends to make plants shut down earlier than usual.”

Some area apple farmers say that the harvest has started earlier this year, though most didn’t change when they start selling.

“This year I could probably have opened the first of September as far as the ripening of the apples,” Lynn Graves, Lucky Graves’ brother, said. “It might have been worth (opening early), it might not have been, so we didn’t worry with it.”

However, how long the apples being sold last may vary. Several area suppliers warned that they may not have all their varieties for the whole season.

“Fugi has become very popular, so it is probably the first that will run out,” Lynn Graves said in a recent interview. “The ideal time to (do) pick-your-own will end a little earlier.”

The apples in Madison started being harvested in July, according to information from Lynn Graves. Though the harvest season traditionally lasts through the end of October, this year the season’s end may come sooner since the fruit matured earlier, Lucky Graves said in a recent interview.

“With the way the weather’s been everything’s running a bit early – we’re about 10 days ahead of schedule,” Lucky Graves said.

He added that the dates of the Graves Mountain Lodge Apple Harvest Festival, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 9-10 and 16-17, are staying the same.

Syria couple Tom Flynn and Debi Flynn, owners of Quaker Run Orchard, have about 12 acres of apples on a 135-acre farm off Quaker Run Road. Tom Flynn said their crop usually sells out in a little more than a month. He said he’s not worried about running out of their main apple variety – golden delicious – but everything is maturing a little quicker than usual.

“This year’s crop is looking really good,” Tom Flynn said. “Though we might be seeing (the apples) a week earlier in ripening.”