Superfresh Growers® Shares Orchard Update With Dave Gleason
YAKIMA, WA - The time has come for a long-awaited release—a Superfresh Orchard Update! Dave Gleason, Horticulturist and Proprietary Variety Developer for Superfresh Growers®, has come back with the latest orchard operations. Spoiler alert: beautiful flavors and eating experiences are in store.
“We had a long harvest and a successful harvest. The weather cooperated, but I have to say it was one of the most unusual years that I can remember—and I can remember a lot of harvests,” Gleason quipped in the video. “At this point, we’re working with the apples we have, and the quality and flavors are pretty excellent.”
Superfresh Growers experienced difficult weather during both the bloom and harvest windows in Washington State. Thankfully, with some help from the beautiful summer weather the region is known for, the 2022 apple crop ended up with excellent flavors and eating experiences with volumes a bit lower than usual.
According to the release, every year is different when you are working with Mother Nature. This year, many of the apple trees in Washington State still have an abundance of leaves on them. Due to a significant drop in temperature over a few days in late fall, the leaves were more-or-less “frozen” to the trees as they were about to release.
Buried in all those leaves are little spurs on each limb that indicate where new buds will form this spring. Gleason explained that by inspecting the insides of these spurs, we are able to get a glimpse at the upcoming crop. Armed with his incredibly sharp Benchmade knife and a handy-dandy magnifying glass that was passed down to him by his dad, Dave cut into the spur and reveals the very early stage of an apple.
“If you look closely, you can see some round globules in the middle of that bud, and those have flower parts,” he explained in the video. “You can see ovules, and the round nature indicates that that should be a flower bud this next spring.”
To watch the man in action for yourself, check out the video above.
Stay with ANUK as we keep a pulse on the produce developments and releases.
