Drought affecting local orchards, products

The tenacious droughts and heavy heat waves that struck the Northeast this summer did not spare Eric Schatt’s apple orchard. Like other apple farmers in the Northeast (tinyurl.com/2z2anasj), Schatt is picking smaller and fewer apples from his trees than years prior.

In a typical year, Cornell’s Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC) records an average of 10.99 inches of precipitation in the Trumansburg area between May and July. However, this year, the NRCC recorded only 7.54 inches during that time period. Schatt said these months are crucial for the development of apples.

“Early rain creates the potential for the cells within the apples to grow large,” Schatt said. “Even if you get rain late in the season, the fact that you had a drought early in the year [means] there’s no real way to save it. Basically, the drought early in the year made the potential for the apples to get large impossible.”

In a normal year, Schatt is one of many vendors at the Trumansburg Farmers Market selling apples. However, since Schatt’s apples are smaller and fewer in quantity, he couldn’t sell them. Instead, he is using them for his cidery, Redbyrd Orchard Cider (redbyrdorchardcider.com).

Ian Merwin is a professor emeritus in Cornell University’s Department of Horticulture and the owner of Trumansburg’s Black Diamond Farm and Cider (blackdiamondcider.com). Merwin said that in addition to causing trees to create smaller fruit at lower quantity, droughts make it harder for farmers to plant new apple trees and expand their orchards.

“Baby trees haven’t had a chance to establish a root system, so they’re pretty vulnerable,” Merwin said. “If you have a drought the year that you first planted [new trees], you’re in trouble.”

Merwin said that as weather patterns become more severe and unpredictable due to climate change, it is important for apple farmers to have irrigation systems that can support their trees and supplement rainfall.

At Redbyrd Orchard, Schatt used his pond to water new apple trees that he planted this spring. Schatt said that without having that irrigation system, he would have struggled with cultivating new trees.

“I planted about 500 new trees this spring, and fortunately, I heavily used [the pond] to water those baby trees,” Schatt said. “It was definitely a year that if you planted new trees and you didn’t have access to irrigation, those trees would have really suffered.”

At Trumansburg’s Kingtown Orchards, owner Brayton Foster found that his trees that bear Red Delicious apples were affected by the drought more than other varieties due to where they were planted on his farm.

“The trees are planted on what we call shallow ground, which means it is only 2 or 3 feet above the bedrock,” Foster said. “If it doesn’t rain every couple weeks, that ground just runs out of water. We also had a lot of evaporation this year because there was bright sunshine and it was hot every day.”

In 2021, the Northeast received record amounts of rainfall (tinyurl.com/yh3enslo). For Schatt, this increased apple yield allowed him to press more cider and stock up. Despite this year’s drought, Schatt has plenty of last year’s cider to sell.

“Last year was the complete opposite,” Schatt said. “We had a very large crop and we had lots of rain. This whole year and this summer has been sales of last year’s big crop. We’re not going to really see the effects of this drought until next year.”

While droughts cause smaller and fewer apples, the lack of water can make apples sweeter. Additionally, high amounts of sunlight cause apple skins to burst with colors. This phenomenon has been reported by other apple farmers in the Northeast (tinyurl.com/29yd8ksn).

Merwin said the root systems of apple trees are extremely drought tolerant, meaning that apple trees are able to survive intense heat waves and lack of rainfall. At the same time, Merwin said, lots of sunlight causes the trees to photosynthesize more, increasing the amount of sugar in each apple. So, this year, apples have more sugar and less water than normal.

“Sugars are probably running 20-25% higher than they would normally,” Merwin said. “The color is really good on everything. There’s a lot of really bright flushes and reds, and that’s because we had a lot of sunshine. All the other flavor compounds are going to be really enhanced. The size is definitely a bit off in our orchards.”

Despite the sweeter apples, Schatt said the changing weather patterns as a result of climate change have already begun to affect his orchard. Building out his irrigation system and preparing for years to come will be more of a priority than previously.

“Climate variability has made perennial fruit growing more difficult,” Schatt said. “Maybe 10-15 years ago, you could say having access to irrigation was not that important. Now, it’s as important as anything else.”

Trumansburg Connection appears every Wednesday in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.

In brief:

Tom Harley Campbell book launch

On Nov. 13 from 2 to 4 p.m., Trumansburg author Tom Harley Campbell will be holding a book launch event for his newest title, “BLUE BOOK.” This free event will be held at the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts, 5 McLallen St., and books, wine and snacks will be available.

Campbell is the author of “Satan’s Choir (A John Burke Mystery).” Born and raised in Dayton, Ohio, he has been a journalist, carpenter, cabinet maker, machinist and for many years a musician and Nashville songwriter. Learn more at tinyurl.com/2yyq9r7v.