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Michigan Apple Crop Update
May 22, 2014

Apple blossom time looks to be bountiful


 

Michigan Apples are in full blossom this week and next.  Great weather!
 

Happily, the long winter is over and we are at the full-pink bloom stage.  About two weeks later than normal, and all signals are good from Michigan.

It’s blossom time.  Our first apple blossoms – Michigan’s state flower by the way – began late last week.  We had one nail-biting night where temperatures threatened to drop to the freezing mark.

Cold temps not damaging.  When we read forecasts like this, all of our field staff mobilizes.  Our preparations include having wind machines – which we’ve doubled up on since 2012 – in the low-lying areas staffed and ready to go.

We had helicopters on stand-by May 15th, but didn’t need to use them due to cloud cover, wind and the moderating influence of Lake Michigan.

Blossom analysis.  Since early April, Riveridge Operations Manager Justin Finkler has been engaged in some leading edge-technology that helps us predict crop volume.  He’s been cutting branches from many apple varieties and forcing them to bloom indoors.

Because of the epic winter, the buds were very tightly closed.  After a couple weeks of being held in vases at warmer temperatures, the buds began to emerge so that we could analyze the proportion of flower buds to vegetative (leaf) buds.

This bit of information is an early predictor of crop size if weather conditions are “normal.”  Our microscopic analysis, along with normal weather so far leads us to predict a blossom time that could set a crop every bit as bountiful as last year.  We predict apple harvest to run about 10 days later than normal.

Sweet cherries blossoming.  Riveridge handles Michigan-grown sweet cherries, which are among the earliest tree fruits to bloom.  The blooming period was accompanied by good weather that allowed the bees to do their work.

Prediction:  We’ll have an awesome sweet cherry crop come mid-July.

No drought in Michigan.  We share the disappointment that Western US growers are feeling this year as a result of a long-lasting drought.

At the same time, we’re happy to report this has not been the case in Michigan.  Grand Rapids had over 116 inches of snow, which melted slowly and has been absorbed into the groundwater and our many lakes without incident.

This has kept tree fruit healthy and ready to put on another great apple crop.

Still shipping!  Our shipment levels have been consistently high through winter and spring.  And we’re still packing apples from CA storage on a daily basis.

Top Tweets.  For updates on how Riveridge’s crop of Michigan apples is progressing, follow us at https://twitter.com/RiveridgeProduc.

Sincerely,
 
Don Armock                       Dawn Geers                       Rog Geers          
Brian Johnson                Melissa Dubridge           Russell Comport
 




 

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