Each variety of apple is grown for special food uses. Some types of apples make better cider or juice. Other kinds of apples are used for cooking or eating. Apples may be colored shades of red, green, or yellow.
The growers use a method called "grafting" to produce the best apple crop. Grafting means to take a branch from one tree and attach it to another apple tree. Soon the branch grows along with the tree. A tree make take up to 8 years to produce an apple crop. Although some orchards have full grown apple trees, a newer method is to graft branches with full-size fruit onto smaller dwarf trees. This allows the grower to fit more trees in the orchard.
Apple trees need careful pruning, or trimming, during the first five years of growth. The trees, blossoms, and fruit needs to be protected from insects that harm the apples. Usually, chemicals are used to protect the orchard. The apple tree needs a season of dormancy, or rest. For this reason, apple trees do not grow well in areas where winter temperatures average higher than 48 degrees F. Frost can damage the apple blossoms in the spring. Apple trees grow best on hilltops or slopes because the frost moves down the slope before the blossoms can be ruined.
Unlike some other fruit, apples are usually harvested when they are fully ripe. Apples stored carefully at low temperatures will be fresh for almost a year.
Washington, Michigan, and New York are the leading states in the production of apples in the United States.
Adapted from Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Grolier Electronic Publishers Inc., 1995.
Additional information about apples in the state of Washington.
Return to the Apple Picking Time Lesson.
