It looks to be a good year for apples in Chatham-Kent.
Hector Delanghe, owner of Delhaven Orchards in Cedar Springs, says the crop is around 85% of the max yield.
"100% is hard to handle, 80-85% is really a nice crop to handle," says Delanghe. "It should be going into storage in a proper manner, which means it should be good apples coming out for the rest of the year."
The apples are also ahead of schedule.
"The crop is about five-seven days ahead of normal," says Delanghe. "We don't know why that is, because it actually wasn't that warm of a spring. But Mother Nature has a strange way of doing things and we have to react accordingly."
Delanghe says the weather is having an effect on the apples.
"The fruit is very high coloured this year," he says. The Mac's are redder, the Ambrosia will be redder, the Red Delicious will be redder. That's because we had those cool night about two and a half weeks ago."
Despite the good crop, a little more rain would be nice for the orchard.
"The trees look like they're starting to suffer. In other words, they're starting to look like they're a little bit wilted, the same way we do under a extreme heat," says Delanghe. "I think rain and the cooler weather that's forecasted for tonight and tomorrow, I think will help out a lot already."
Delhaven Orchard grows 19 different varieties of apples, along with peaches, nectarines, and pears.
