Just a few comments on pick your own. Make sure you are in an area that people don't have to drive too far to the orchard. Be real sure you want to deal with the public who knows nothing about picking an apple and of course the first thing they want to do is climb a tree. This is not just limited to kids either. Be prepared to work seven days a week. Plant what you can grow well and of course plant some of the new popular varieties, like Honey crisp, Fuji, Pink Lady to name a few.
We at Dickie Bros. Orchard in west central Va. offer pick your own all season long, but are really too far from high population centers. People really have to drive 2 plus hours to get to us. Our biggest draw is pick your own Fuji and we get lots of Asians, a whole different set of problems here. And finally make sure your price is high enough to offset the fruit losses from drops and culling fruit, but not to high to discourage people from coming. And remember if you have won the lottery and want to spend your money on an apple orchard, you will find out that your lottery winnings will soon run out. Tommy Bruguiere Dickie Bros. Orchard Roseland, Va. ----- Original Message ----- From: Kurt W. Alstede To: 'Apple-crop discussion list' Sent: Friday, September 14, 2012 7:32 AM Subject: Re: [apple-crop] Rotten to the Core: What pick-your-own appleorchards tell us about the American economy. Hugh, Choose the business model that works best for you where you are located and consider your temperament. Not everyone is meant to be a retailer. It takes both savvy and patience..plus plenty of logistical strength. The bottom line is what type of farming enterprise will you enjoy the most and what will provide you the best net income. Retailing and PYO are not for everyone.but they work great for others. Good Luck, Kurt W. Alstede General Manager, Alstede Farms, LLC P.O. Box 278 84 County Route 513 S. (Old Rt. 24) Chester, New Jersey 07930 United States of America Tel: 908-879-7189 Fax: 908-879-7815 www.alstedefarms.com From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Hugh Thomas Sent: Friday, September 14, 2012 6:27 AM To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] Rotten to the Core: What pick-your-own apple orchards tell us about the American economy. I'm going to reply to this, mainly to see if it works, as I'm new on here. I have a question for anyone with a u-pick orchard. Do the kids do a lot damage to the trees and fruit, making heavy supervision necessary? I just planted a small high density orchard of about an acre and a half. Would a small u-pick operation be worth the hassles? Thanks for any input, Hugh On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 1:38 AM, Con.Traas <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Jon and friends, I get the feeling the article or author is a bit mixed up, and does not know exactly what point is the main one. However, there is no doubt that all things American make their way across to this side of the pond sooner or later, and demand for U-pick apples (or Pick Your Own as we call it here) is much greater than ever before, so in that way we are following in your footsteps. Not everyone that comes to pick is a yuppy though, and mostly it is just nice innocent entertainment for families with younger children. Personally I think that if we as growers engage with the children, these people will have happy memories of apples when they grow older, and hopefully better eating habits than they would otherwise have. On the issue of cost, I think it is probably more expensive to organise for people to come and do U-pick than simply to go out with your orchard crew and pick the apples yourself. Con Traas _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list [email protected] http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list [email protected] http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
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