PIONEER VALLEY — The region's apple crop is relatively light this year, according to three local orchardists, largely because the crop was so abundant last year.
Owners of Bashista Orchards in Southampton, Outlook Farm in Westhampton, and Clarkdale Fruit Farm in Deerfield all said last year's bumper crop meant trees didn't bud as much as they normally would this year, leading to a sparser harvest.
"The apples are delicious; there just aren't as many of them," said Tom W. Bashista, patriarch of the Bashista Orchard family. Bashista noted that his son Tom, the manager of the orchard, was "busy working in the cider house."
"We have about a quarter of our crop from what we had last year," said Bashista. "Last year was extremely good, but this year when the trees were in bloom, there was cold and rain, and the bees didn't pollinate. Then we got hit with hail, afterward, too. A little bit of this, and a little bit of that, to mess things up."
Bashista said his grandfather bought the farm in 1926. The family has about 25 acres devoted to orchard production. "We do some haying. And we rent out a couple pieces of land to a couple of the farmers. Pretty much we've got a hundred acres all intact. And it's going to stay that way, we hope."
Trees include Baldwins, Winesap, Lodi, MacIntosh, Braeburn, Macouns, Jonagolds, and other varieties. Bashista is also experimenting with growing cherry trees and vegetables in a large, protected hoop house.
Brad Morse, owner of Outlook Farm, said he didn't suffer any weather calamities at the hilltop orchard on Route 66.
"No late frosts; no hailstorms," said Morse. "It's on the lighter side, but we're making it through the season; we're still picking our own."
Morse attributed the light crop to too much production last year. "There was a wicked heavy crop throughout New England last year, which means lighter production this year. That's just mother nature."
He said it's rare to get through a year without some sort of weather-related issue. "Whether you get a big crop or a small crop, you can still get bad bloom time, bad bee time, you get hit with hailstorms, you get windstorms, you get all the usual."
He said next year he'll hopefully be back to an average year. "This year, with the lighter crop load, the trees will make plenty of buds."
Morse said Outlook has been in the family for a little over 50 years now, between his parents, himself, and his wife. They have 30 acres of orchard, and 30 acres rented out for vegetable production. "Plus we do hayrides, pick-your-own, all the fall festivities."
Tom Clark of Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield reported a medium-sized crop.
"Last year we had the biggest crop we ever had; the year before was the smallest crop we ever had; and luckily we're somewhere in the middle."
The summer's cool wet weather helped the trees stay healthy, said Clark. "The green leaves are still there; and the apples stayed on the tree and they didn't fall off. We're still picking."
Clark also remarked on the effect of last year's huge crop.
"If you have too many one year, and you don't thin them off enough, they won't set enough buds for the next year. That happened in a lot of places."
He said in orchards up north, there was enough cold weather after the April bloom to cause damage. "So certain locations in New England, and New Hampshire is one of those places, got hit with that."
Clark said he toured a New Hampshire orchard in May which had "full-sized fruit trees with only six blossoms on them."
Clarkdale consists of "three hundred acres of woods and rocks," said Clark, with apples on 25 of those acres, peaches on 10, and pears on four or five. He said he has "thousands" of trees and 40 or 50 varieties. The orchard will be 100 years old next year.
"We still have some of my grandfather's original trees," said Clark.