March 28, 2024

North Iowa apple crop called late but great

ST. ANSGAR (AP) — Some growers say northern Iowa’s crop may be late but the apples were worth the wait.

Steve Beland and his wife, Lorraine, have 400 apple trees on their land near St. Ansgar. He told the Mason City Globe Gazette that their apples were slow in ripening, but “they were good when they got there.”

Mike Tarr says four of the five varieties he grows in an orchard near Clear Lake produced good fruit, but his Honeycrisp apples weren’t up to expectations. He says they didn’t need all the rain that fell early in the growing season.

Darin Enderton manages Apples on the Avenue near Nashua. He says the “good, slow warm-up in the spring” helped his trees.