Apple season to be a good one after dry, sunny summer

The dry, hot summer weather has had some positive impacts on a local orchard.

Although Wagner Orchards is noticing some of its apples are smaller due to the lack of rain Windsor Essex County got this summer, the orchard is saying they should have a great season.

"The number of apples is great. The size, some are very good, some are a little smaller, but the quality is excellent, like I've never seen so many perfect apples," Harold Wagner of Wagner Orchards and Estate Winery said.

Due to the lack of rain there's less disease amongst the apples. Rain can cause apple scab and it has to be treated with fungicides. Wagner hasn't seen a single case of it anywhere, he said.

Sun burn

Another natural factor is the sun, which plays a love-hate relationship with the apples.

When the sun is very hot it can actually burn through the skin of the apples. At the same time, the sun also makes the apples sweeter.

Wagner says he isn't worried about the size of the apples or the sun hurting his business.

"For the grocery store, people want big apples and they grade them and everything. But people come out for pick your own and I'd say about 90 per cent of the apples that walk out of here are going into a kids lunch, you don't need to give them a half a pound apple," said Wagner.

Amie Baker has been coming to the orchard for years.

Upon inspection, she didn't notice a whole lot of difference in size from previous years. However, she said small apples don't bother her and her family.

"We have little ones in our families and apples are perfect for their little hands," said Baker.

The apple picking season started Labour Day weekend and will continue into October.