Purdue News

July 25, 1997

Apple harvest looks good despite cold spring

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The nation's apple crop forecast for this harvest season looks good, Purdue University horticulturist Peter Hirst says.

The crop is expected to offer average yields, but the Red Delicious crop will be down in some regions. In Indiana the total yield should be approximately 1.3 million bushels.

"In Indiana the apple crop yields look to be about average or slightly down from recent years, except for Red Delicious, which really took a hit from the April freeze in some places," Hirst says. "Not only did the cold kill flowers, it also caused some russet damage, with quite a lot of damage showing up in some places. The cold injury varied greatly from orchard to orchard, though, so some orchards still have great looking crops of Reds and other varieties."

The apple crop outlook in other states:

Washington state is forecast to be down slightly, at 85-95 million bushels of fresh market apples, because of poor bloom on Red Delicious.
The Michigan crop is estimated at 25 million bushels, which is about the average for the last five years, but up dramatically from last year's crop of 17.3 million bushels.
California is expected to produce 7.6 million bushels, down slightly from last year.
New York and New England crops are forecast to be about average or slightly above average.
Crops in the Appalachian regions are about average except for the Red Delicious variety, which is forecast to be down due to cold damage.

CONTACT: Peter Hirst, (765) 494-1323

Compiled by Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8415; E-mail, sig@ecn.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu

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