Your guide to picking your own apples in the Great Lake State of Michigan. Get the lowdown from a Michigander who has been to many markets and orchards throughout the state.
Timing is everything. Especially when it comes to picking the freshest and best fruit.
Are you looking to pick your own apples in Michigan? Maybe you know the general season but not sure when the best time to go is? Or maybe you're not sure when to find the best apples.
This comprehensive guide will help you make the best of this apple season in Michigan.
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📅 When Does the Season Start
Did you know the first apples of the season to come off the trees in Michigan happen in July? Super early varieties include Transparent and Lodi.
While orchards will have some apples available earlier than September, they often don't open up their u-pick operations until September. They will sell their early apples at the orchards or the farmers market.
You may still find some orchards that offer earlier options like Fruit Acres Farm in Coloma, that will let you pick Pristine apples during their August peach harvest. And I have picked Golden Supreme apples at Overhisher Orchards in South Haven. Zestar! is another early season variety you may find u-pick on.
September is when more apples are ready to harvest and the most popular varieties are available. Gala and McIntosh are two very popular options at the beginning of the u-pick season.
The perk of picking Gala and McIntosh at the same time is that you can combine the two together to make a no sugar needed homemade applesauce. The Gala apples will bring the sweetness and the McIntosh will add some tartness and texture.
Blondee is a yellow apple that is my wife's favorite and can be found at many orchards at the start of the season. I have picked them and peaches at the same time at Fruit Acres.
As the month of September continues on you will start seeing other varieties like: Cortland, Jonathan, Empire, Jonagold, Red Delicious, and Golden Delicious.
I have a guide to help you know when the best time for picking Cortland apples are. Jonathan apples are a good September apple for baking but I think the best baking apples come out later in the season (more on that below).
Fuji apples ripen in October, but some types of Fuji apples (usually called Early Fuji, Daybreak Fuji, or September Wonder Fuji) have been widely planted, and those ripen in September.
💡 Tip - One of the best days of the week to go picking apples is Fridays. Weekends are always super busy, so weekdays will be less busy. You may have better selection on Fridays too since it's been 5 days since busy Sunday. Always the best thing to do is check with the orchard and see when they start picking your favorite varieties.
🍯 Honeycrisp
Honeycrisp apples are ready to be picked in early September.
It's a farm to farm basis on whether you can pick Honeycrisp or not. Some places will never let you pick them yourself. If some do, they will often charge more money for them and you will need to keep them separate from other apples you pick at the same time.
In my podcast episode I did with Riveridge Produce Marketing, my guest, Jamie, shared that Honeycrisp apples have a sharp stem that can cut the skin of the other apples when they are a bin together. So they have to clip the stems in the orchard before they can place them into bins.
If you are allowed to pick Honeycrisp, keep this in mind when picking. Your apples will last longer if you can trim that stem.
🚜 Check out our Michigan Honeycrisp farm list.
If you are a Honeycrisp fan, another variety of look out for in September is the SnowSweet apple. This one has a rich flavor and great texture when you get them in late September. I would take them over Honeycrisp any day, to be honest.
🎃 Why October is the Best
My family eats a lot of apples so I don't mind going picking a couple times during the season. My favorite time to pick is in October.
One, for the weather. It's my favorite kind of weather of the whole year. Plus, seeing all the colorful trees as you drive out to the orchards incredible.
But what I really like most about picking apples in October, is that October is when you find the best storing apples. You can pick a ton and they will last in your fridge for quite a while. Some apples that I look for include Gold Rush, Sun Crisp, and Spigold.
Mutsu is a common variety to find in Michigan that is great to buy in October. The texture of them doesn't last as long as I would like, but when they are fresh off the tree they are amazing. A huge apple too!
Above all, I love finding those heirloom varieties that have been around forever and are being preserved by a small number of orchards. Two of them to look for include Esopus Spitzenburg (said to be Thomas Jefferson''s favorite) and Ashmead's Kernel. Tree Mendus Fruit Farm in Eau Claire, Michigan was my favorite place to get many heirloom varieties. Sadly, their owner contracted Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus that left him with several medical complications that lead to the farm closing down for good.
🥧 Best Time for Pie Apples
September is a great time for picking apples to make applesauce and October is a great time to pick apples to make pies. The best pie apples are harvested in October. If you have been around the state for a while, I am sure you have heard "spies for pies". The Northern Spy apple is one of the best pie apples around and you can find it growing at many Michigan orchards. It's one of the later apples.
Rhode Island Greening apples are another apple pie favorite of mine. They are an heirloom variety that you can find growing at some Michigan orchards such as Brookwood Fruit Farm in Almont. They are available in early October, sometimes maybe as early as late September.
Ida Red apples are another great pie apple that is harvested in early October. It's actually the variety of apple that Zingerman's Bakehouse in Ann Arbor likes to use for thier apple pies.
Granny Smith is often one of the last apples to come off the trees. It's always a good stand by to have for pie making. Rome apples can work for pies as well. This was one of my daughter's favorite apples when she was younger. She still likes it but she has many more favorite varieties since then.
🍎 MAIA Apples
In recent years, Midwest Apple Improvement Association (MAIA) has been developing new varieties of apples. They may or may not be offered for u-pick but they are varieties that you should be looking to try out.
- EverCrisp
- Sweet Zinger
- Rosalee
- Sweet Maia
- Ludacrisp
- Summerset
📧 Email List
Want to keep informed of when the best varieties of apples are in stores? Join our Apple Clue email list below.
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