The country is full of apple orchards. Apple
orchards are where the apples you buy in the supermarket
come from. Applesauce is made out of apples grown in
orchards. People who drink apple juice and apple cider
enjoy the produce provided by the hardworking orchard
owners. Without apple orchards there would be no apple
pies. The world would be a sadder place without apple
orchards.
In the springtime people drive past apple orchards and
see tidy row after tidy row of apple trees, their
spreading boughs fragrant with the scent of delicate
apple blossoms. In the summer they can drive past the
same orchard and see the same trees, leaves shining in
the sunshine. In the fall those same trees are laden
with apples, crunchy and full of juice. In the winter,
the spreading limbs of the apple trees spread wide and
are blanketed with a layer of glittering snow. When they
stop to admire the artistic trees they notice that
unlike other types of agriculture endeavors the only
time they see anyone working amongst the trees is when
the trees are heavy with fruit and the farmers are
picking the apples. It doesn't take very long for the
passer bys to start thinking about how easy it would be
to own an orchard. When the opportunity to purchase an
apple orchard comes along, these people can hardly walk
away from the opportunity.
The reality is that there is a lot more to owning an
apple orchard then picking apples and pulling in money.
The casual passerby thinks that owning an apple orchard
won't be much work, the reality is that a great deal of
backbreaking labor goes into maintaining the orchard.
The trees have to be pruned. The trees have to be
sprayed to protect them from being ravished by insects.
In addition to caring for the trees there is a lot of
general maintenance chores that have to be taken care
of. There is also the task of removing the old,
unproductive trees and replacing them with young trees.
The next thing to consider when purchasing an apple
orchard is the size of the orchard. According to the
experts an apple orchard has to be at least ten acres
large in order to break even. That's just breaking even.
In theory a larger orchard means a larger profit margin
for the orchard owner, but a larger orchard also means
that the owner will have to buy more insecticide, rotate
more trees, hire more employees, and spend more money on
the equipment needed to maintain the orchard and harvest
the apple crop.
Perhaps the biggest error newcomers to the apple orchard
business make in the spring time when the apple trees
are in bloom. In order for the trees to bear fruit the
flowers have to be pollinated. Although the wind can
help pollinate the flowers, honey bees are better. Many
new orchard owners think that there are enough bees in
the wild to pollinate the acres of apple trees. These
owners are making an assumption that could harm their
yearly yield. Experienced owners know that to ensure
they get a profitable harvest they need to work with
local beekeepers. They lease the hives and the honey
bees from the beekeepers. The hive owners set up the
hives in the orchards. The extra bees assist in the
pollination.