NODINE, Minn. – Apple-picking has been as much fun as ever in pick-your-own orchards although the fruit has been paler and smaller than usual. The summer of drought, called “extreme” by climatologists, took its toll. Then came hail. In bluff-top orchards on Apple Blossom Drive between Nodine and LaCrescent, some growers trucked water to their trees. When hail was forecast, there were experiments, in some cases for the first time, to stretch netting over trees. At the major Southwind operation at Dakota, orchardist Patrick Wolfe picked early to move as much of the crop into cold storage as possible before the drought took an even heavier toll. There were other such anticipatory decisions at orchards in Goodhue, Olmsted and Wabasha counties and also in Wisconsin in Trempealeau County.
Bountiful? Yes, but not so much. Fruit less red, smaller and not as juicy as ideal. Blame the drought. Recent rains from sodden skies came late. Image: Steve Lunde
