{"id":44614,"date":"2026-08-19T18:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=44614"},"modified":"2026-08-19T18:56:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T23:56:07","slug":"early-apple-harvest-expected-in-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/44614-early-apple-harvest-expected-in-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Apple Harvest Expected In Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>By RHIANNON BRANCH, <em>FarmWeek<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Apples are ready for picking at some Illinois orchards, marking an early harvest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cDue to the early bloom and warm temperatures this summer, harvest is running at least several days to a week earlier than most years,\u201d Molly Christ with Christ Orchard in Elmwood told FarmWeek.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They began picking the first of more than 60 varieties of apples in late July and will offer U-pick apples later this month.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cDespite the close calls we had this spring with the freezing temperatures, we still have a bumper crop of apples,\u201d Christ said. \u201cA few apples have frost rings, or rough patches on the skin. This is a type of russeting that does not affect the flesh or taste.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Apples ripening early in Illinois this season<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The first varieties of apples at Liberty Apple Orchard in Edwardsville ripened about 10 days ahead of usual. (Photo courtesy of Liberty Apple Orchard)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Apple varieties are also maturing about 10 days ahead of schedule at Liberty Apple Orchard in Edwardsville. Owner Stephen Miller said the early bloom in late March was a driving factor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe only other year with a bloom in late March was back in 2012 and then it was followed by a deep freeze in April that just decimated the apple crop here in Illinois,\u201d Miller recalled. \u201cFortunately, this year we had an early bloom, but we also had a fairly warm April, so we didn\u2019t have that problem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Most of their varieties look plentiful with good quality, especially the Honeycrisps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe trees are loaded with Honeycrisp. It looks gorgeous. They have a lot of color and a lot of sizing that we haven\u2019t seen in the last couple of years, so we\u2019re very optimistic that there\u2019ll be a good season,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Miller calls himself an \u201cencore-preneur\u201d having planted his first apple trees in 2008 after retiring from his career. Now he has around 1,000 trees growing 21 different varieties for people to pick. Liberty Apple Orchard also sells at three farmer\u2019s markets in southwestern Illinois and eastern Missouri.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cI think this could be the best year we have ever had for apples,\u201d Miller said. \u201cLast year was a very good year for us, but this year looks very promising.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Around 545 farms grow more than 2,200 acres of apples in Illinois each year, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By RHIANNON BRANCH, FarmWeek Apples are ready for picking at some Illinois orchards, marking an early harvest. \u201cDue to the early bloom and warm temperatures this summer, harvest is running [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - 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