09/02/08 Getting Ready for Apples & Pears

Getting Ready for Apples & Pears. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. There are a few apples and pears beginning to come off the trees and where the cherry and grape crops have been smaller, Tim Smith, WSU Extension Agent says apples and pears are looking pretty good. SMITH: We're not having bumper crops reported but people are getting pretty normal crops of nice big Bartlett's and at least reasonably sized Gala's from the first reports I'm getting. It's not like small fruits and little bits of it, it's actually pretty normal. And what about the overall harvest? SMITH: It looks like a good apple crop in many ways. It's not like a major increase in production but it looks like good production. People are betting we'll be up slightly in our production but not so much that it will wreck markets. The quality of the fruit looks good especially with this turn of weather that we've had. Apples love a little cooler weather to ripen fully and color up nicely. The extended spring seemed to help with the problems of workers and Smith says it's still early. SMITH: Of course the real test hasn't occurred yet. So far we've had adequate for the crops that we've had. I'm sure that we will need a lot more as we progress into the real apple season. We're just starting to get going with Bartlett pears and Gala apples competing with one another but so far it seems to be okay. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.