Predicted 2020 apple harvest dates for southwest Michigan

William Shane, Mark Longstroth, and Michael Reinke<reinkem3@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension - August 11, 2020

Apple harvest for most of the state is a few days behind normal and a few days ahead of last year.

Apples on a tree — Photo by Mark Longstroth, MSU Extension.

The predicted harvest dates for every weather station are now available at Michigan State University’s Enviroweather website. The 2020 spring cold temperatures generally delayed apple tree development. Most of the state experienced a late bloom except the very southeastern part of Michigan. In general, 2020 predicted harvest dates are a few days later than normal. Most of the state is only a few days behind normal and nearly equal to, or a few days ahead of last year.

A severe freeze on May 9 reduced crop loads for many orchards. For southwest region orchards, relatively calm wind conditions during the freeze hours increased damage in low areas. Most areas bloomed a week late except southeast Michigan, which was a only few days late. Warm weather returned mid- to late May, which sped up bloom. In general, apple blocks have a mix of crop loads with most near average. Blocks with light crop loads will mature 3 or 4 days sooner than the predicted harvest dates. Heavy crop loads will mature up to 7 days later than the predicted dates. If hot stressful weather occurs in August or September, apple maturity will be advanced. The 2020 predicted harvest dates are listed in Table 1.

The normal harvest dates for other varieties are listed in Table 2 for the central southwest Michigan area. The predicted dates for other non-modeled varieties are a rough estimate based on the McIntosh, Jonathan and Red Delicious predicted dates. ReTain application should be applied 30 DBH (days before harvest). Harvista can be applied 3 to 7 DBH. Use Table 2, 2020 for predicted harvest dates for other varieties to time ReTain applications and adjust for varieties and locations.

Table 1. 2020 predicted peak harvest dates.

Full bloom dates 2020				Predicted harvest dates 2020
Station	McIntosh	Jons	Reds	McIntosh	Jons	Reds	Observer
SWMREC	16-May	17-May	17-May	13-Sep	24-Sep	30-Sep	Shane
Deerfield	10-May	14-May	14-May	9-Sep	23-Sep	5-Oct	Tritten
Romeo	20-May	21-May	22-May	18-Sep	29-Sep	5-Oct	Tritten
Peach Ridge	21-May	22-May	22-May	19-Sep	30-Sep	6-Oct	Irish-Brown
Hart	25-May	25-May	26-May	24-Sep	5-Oct	12-Oct	Irish-Brown
NWMHRS	27-May	28-May	28-May	27-Sep	11-Oct	19-Oct	Rothwell

Table 2. Normal and predicted 2020 peak harvest dates for apple varieties in central Berrien County in southwest Michigan based on weather data at the Southwest Michigan Research and Extension Center, Benton Harbor, MI.

Variety	Normal date	2019 Predicted peak harvest date	2020 Predicted peak harvest date
Paula Red	22-Aug	28-Aug	25-Aug
Zestar	22-Aug	28-Aug	25-Aug
Gingergold	20-Aug	26-Aug	23-Aug
McIntosh	10-Sep	16-Sep	13-Sep
Gala	8-Sep	14-Sep	11-Sep
Early Fuji	3-Sep	10-Sep	6-Sep
Honeycrisp	13-Sep	20-Sep	15-Sep
Empire	19-Sep	26-Sep	21-Sep
Jonathan	22-Sep	30-Sep	24-Sep
Jonagold	22-Sep	30-Sep	24-Sep
Golden Delicious	25-Sep	1-Oct	27-Sep
Red Delicious	28-Sep	7-Oct	30-Sep
Ida Red	5-Oct	15-Oct	7-Oct
Rome	5-Oct	15-Oct	7-Oct
Fuji	20-Oct	28-Oct	22-Oct
Braeburn	20-Oct	28-Oct	22-Oct
Goldrush	26-Oct	3-Nov	28-Oct

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).