Predicted 2019 apple harvest dates

Questions about this information? Contact us. August 02, 2019

Updated from an original article written by Philip Schwallier and Amy Irish-Brown.

The predicted apple harvest dates are roughly a week later than normal, and southeast Michigan is only a few days behind normal.

Apple bin — Photo by Amy Irish-Brown, MSU Extension

The predicted harvest dates are now available at all locations on the Michigan State University Enviroweather website. Once again, we have experienced a cool to cold late winter climate that delayed the development of spring buds. Most of the state experienced a late bloom except the very southeast part of Michigan. In general, 2019 predicted harvest dates are roughly a week later than normal. Southeast Michigan is only a few days behind normal.

As always, the weather seems to be unusual each year and 2019 was no different. It began with another very late spring. Most areas bloomed quite late except southeast Michigan areas. Cool to cold weather persisted well into June. In general, apple blocks have a mix of cropload, some light and some heavy areas, but mostly moderate croploads. Blocks with light croploads will mature three or four days sooner then the predicted harvest dates. Heavy croploads will mature seven days later than the predicted dates. If hot, stressful weather occurs in August or September, apple maturity will be advanced.

The 2019 predicted harvest dates are listed in Table 1. This year, we are about a week behind last year and a week behind normal. Table 2 lists this year’s predictions compared to normal and last year.

The normal harvest dates for other varieties are listed in Table 3 for the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area. This year's predicted dates for other non-modeled varieties are a rough estimate based on the McIntosh, Jonathan and Red Delicious predicted dates. Other areas of the state should adjust non-predicted varieties based on their own history.

ReTain application should be applied 30 days before harvest. Harvista can be applied three to seven days before harvest. Use Table 3 to time ReTain applications and adjust for varieties and locations.

Table 1. 2019 predicted peak harvest dates.
Full bloom date 2019				Predicted harvest date 2019
Station	McIntosh	Jons	Reds	McIntosh	Jons	Reds	Observer
SWMREC	May 15	May 16	May 17	Sept. 16	Sept. 30	Oct. 7	Bill Shane
Deerfield	May 9	May 11	May 12	Sept. 9	Sept. 25	Oct. 5	Bob Tritten
Romeo	May 16	May 17	May 18	Sep. 16	Oct. 1	Oct. 7	Bob Tritten
Peach Ridge	May 19	May 21	May 22	Sept. 20	Oct. 6	Oct. 11	Amy Irish-Brown
Hart	May 25	May 25	May 26	Sept. 26	Oct. 10	Oct. 17	Amy Irish-Brown
NWMHRS	May 29	May 30	May 30	Sept. 30	Oct. 11	Oct. 21	Nikki Rothwell

Table 2. 2019 predicted peak harvest dates compared to normal and last year.
Days behind normal				Days behind of last year
Station	McIntosh	Jons	Reds	McIntosh	Jons	Reds
SWMREC	9	7	9	8	6	6
Deerfield	1	3	3	4	3	7
Romeo	3	6	4	10	8	8
Peach Ridge	5	11	6	6	9	9
Hart	8	7	3	7	11	10
NWMHRS	8	4	4	10	9	12

Table 3. Normal and 2019 peak harvest dates for varieties for the Grand Rapids area.
Variety	Normal date	2019 predicted date
Paulared	Aug. 24	Aug. 30
Gingergold	Aug. 26	Sept. 1
Gala	Sept. 10	Sept. 15
McIntosh	Sept. 15	Sept. 20
Honeycrisp	Sept. 18	Sept. 23
Empire	Sept. 24	Sept. 30
Jonathan	Sept. 26	Oct. 6
Jonagold	Sept. 26	Oct. 6
Golden Delicious	Oct. 2	Oct. 8
Red Delicious	Oct. 5	Oct. 11
Idared	Oct. 10	Oct. 15
Rome	Oct. 15	Oct. 20
Fuji	Oct. 25	Oct. 28
Braeburn	Oct. 25	Oct. 28
Goldrush	Nov. 1	Nov. 3

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).