By C.J. Walke, Orchard Program Manager
Harvest season in the Maine Heritage Orchard (MHO) is an exceptionally busy time of year, considering the vast diversity of apple and pear varieties that we grow, our modest orchard staff, and that preparations for the Common Ground Country Fair are ramping up just as we get into picking fruit. However, it is the most exciting time of year as we harvest the fruit we’ve been caring for all summer, or for the past decade, depending how you look at it. Holding and tasting a ripe apple, fresh off the tree (or a pear that’s ripened on the kitchen counter), especially when it’s a variety from a tree that has just produced for the first time, lends a great sense of accomplishment and gives deep satisfaction for the hard work of the growing season.
This season, fruit set in MHO seems to be the most expansive so far, meaning that more trees have fruit on them than in years past. Since our trees are grafted onto standard Antonovka rootstock, they take longer to start fruiting and reach their bearing years, but the majority of the trees are 10-plus years old and are starting to show it. We also have a bit of biennial bearing happening in the orchard because we don’t use chemical thinners and hand thinning is too labor intensive at our scale. So, some trees, like the Gray Pearmain I was admiring today, had a decent crop in 2023, very little in 2024, and the best fruit load we’ve seen for 2025.
As we prepare for harvest, there’s a list of tasks that need to be done before we get into picking fruit, because once we are in harvest mode, there is little time for much else. One of the first things to do is clean and organize all of our bushel boxes and harvest containers, like baskets and bulb crates. We used to store all the containers in the farmhouse basement, but the flush of rodent activity in early winter could create an unwanted mess, so now we stack them in one of the upstairs bedrooms and they remain untouched by scavenging mice. We also make sure to have a healthy supply of small paper bags, Sharpies, and masking tape for all of our variety sorting and labeling.
We also need to make sure that our apple ladders are in good condition: checking that all hardware is snug and no checks or cracks have started in the wood, since they are all a little older. We have a few pole pickers that we use, one being a newer style with a mesh bag to hold fruit that will be put to use for the first time this year. The others are the metal basket type with the angled hooks that can easily puncture fruit and get hooked on fruit spurs. We’ve started gluing foam ear plugs on the tips of the metal to reduce the damage to fruit and, though they do need regular attention, the ear plugs have helped limit fruit damage. We also inspect our fruit-picking bags to make sure there aren’t any rips in the fabric and the straps are in good condition.
By early August, we also need to be on the lookout for porcupines that seem to know when fruit is approaching ripeness and tend to tear through a tree just two or three weeks before the fruit is ripe and ready to pick. I’ve noticed that they seem to prefer the sweet varieties like Tolman Sweet and Fletcher Sweet, which are hit hard each year, but they will also go for Duchess and Tetofsky in early August. So, we’ve started using stovepipe around the tree trunks to attempt to deter them from climbing into the trees. This works pretty well if they can’t reach a low-hanging branch to pull themselves up into the tree, but it is never 100% protection. We struggle with porcupines because they are mostly nocturnal and are not in the orchard during the day when we are. We scout for damage and will wrap trunks to prevent further issues.
By mid-August, we start picking the summer apples — Duchess of Oldenburg, Chenango Strawberry, and Red Astrachan, among others. We typically do an initial sort out in the field, tossing soft or damaged fruit into buckets for a staff member to bring home to their pigs. We also collect drops for the pigs, trying not to leave any fruit behind that might be a source of insect pests or disease the following year. Good apples go into bushel boxes, labeled with the variety and harvest date, before heading to the walk-in cooler. We also look for excellent examples of the cultivars along the way, setting a few fruits aside in labeled paper bags for use in our fruit displays at the Common Ground Country Fair and Great Maine Apple Day (which is October 19 this year).
This process continues over and over until late October or maybe even early November, when the winter apples are ready — Black Oxford, Golden Russet, Salome/Cherryfield. One of our biggest challenges is keeping all the different varieties separate and organized over this three-month period in our 8-foot-by-20-foot basement cooler that fills alarmingly fast. However, we are always in rotation, so the summer apples are typically used up by early September, and the early September varieties get used at the Fair in late September, and winter apples keep for months with the goal of having some to share at our annual Seed Swap & Scion Exchange in late March each year (in 2026, it is scheduled for March 29).
So, how do we know when an apple is ripe and ready to pick? This is a question we are asked each fall. First, people often assume that if the tree is dropping fruit, then it’s time to pick. This is not always the case. Sometimes the fruit load is heavy, or there’s internal pest damage, and the tree starts dropping some fruit a couple weeks before it’s actually ripe. We collect these as pig food, but some home growers may process this fruit for human consumption if it has not been compromised by bacteria from other critters. Our process for determining ripeness is to cut open the fruit to taste it and inspect the color of the seeds. If the seeds are mostly brown, we consider it ready. If the seeds are still all white, we’ll check again in another week.
Apples will continue to ripen once off the tree, so keep that in mind. Some folks may use a starch-iodine test to check ripeness by cutting open the fruit and brushing iodine on the flesh. The iodine will stain the starch black, so the lighter the color, the more sugar or sweetness should be in the apple, but this is not always perfect depending on the cultivar. Refractometers can be used to measure the sugar content (Brix), but this is usually done by folks processing fruit for ciders, fruit leathers, etc.
European pears can be tricky to know when to pick because they tend to ripen from the inside out while still on the tree. So, if a pear feels a little soft on the tree, it may be too soft on the inside and starting to brown. A good test is to gently lift the pear upside down and if it breaks off easily, it should be ready to pick. We will store these in the cooler to slow the ripening and bring them out to room temperature for a few days to let them continue ripening. Once there’s a little give (softness) at the shoulder beneath the stem, they are usually ready to eat. All of this comes with some variability between cultivars. We find in our diversity of apples and pears that not all behave the same, so we regularly check the fruit and make notes on their quality and any changes for the following harvest.
This article was originally published in the fall 2025 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener.