Assessment of the apple crop in Vermont

Despite the unfavorable weather conditions throughout the state during pollination, the apple crop appears to be average to slightly below average for McIntosh.  The Southern part of the state seems to have the lowest fruit set.  However, most of the orchards in this area had a bumper crop last year and a lower than average bloom and fruit set was expected for this year.  The rest of the state reports average fruit set. 

A problem that many growers faced this season was deciding on the thinning program they would follow.  A couple of reasons for this problem include the uneven fruit set  within blocks where one tree had adequate fruit set without the aid of thinners  and the next tree had many cluster sets.  In addition, the weather conditions were not conducive for an increased thinning response.  It was either too cold or impossible to get into the orchard with a sprayer due to rain.