Why Are Hudson Valley Apples So Much Smaller This Year?

If you've visited an orchard to pick your own this year you may have noticed that apples are a bit smaller than usual.

Apples are big business in the Hudson Valley. Visitors from all over flock to local farms and orchards to pick apples. This year, with COVID-19 on everyone's mind, apple picking has been a safe, outdoor activity that is easy to socially distance at. This has resulted in lots of families heading into our area to enjoy some family fun on the farm.

Those who have been apple picking, however, have noticed that the experience is less than what the remember. More specifically, there's less fruit than they're used to seeing. It turns out, this year's apples are smaller than usual.

While apple picking this weekend I noticed that a number of trees were filled with very small apples. Fruits that used to take up my whole hand are now tiny little apples that you'd usually pass by. So what happened?

It turns out the lack of rain has had a huge impact on apple trees across the region. I talked with a farmer this weekend who told me that the fruit is significantly smaller than it has been in years. And according to him, it's all due to the drought.

It turns out, that a lack of rain causes trees to produce smaller apples. But the good news is that these small apples are actually sweeter. With less water, the sugar in those apples is more abundant, creating some of the tastiest apples you've had in years. And, since apples are usually priced by the pound, you can make up for the size of the apples buy just picking more without having to pay extra.

So don't let those tiny apples keep you away from the orchard this year. When it comes to fruit trees, it turns out that good things really do come in small packages.