Honeycrisp Me!

The buzz surrounding Honeycrisp continues to grow and thanks to a $235,000 annual investment from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries signed in 2005, this cultivar will be replacing orchards of McIntosh, Cortland and Gravenstein in the years to come.

About 240 hectares (600 acres) of honeycrisp apple trees will be planted over the five-year life of the agreement.

What makes Honeycrisp so special besides its size and texture? The flavour is well balanced and strongly aromatic, plus mid-sized fruits have excellent storage characteristics for at least six months.

The reason I specify mid-size is because larger Honeycrisp sometimes have post harvest problems like cork spot and soft scald. Some growers are finding bitter pit, a physiological disorder related to insufficient nutrient uptake, a problem when there is a light crop of large fruit. A common remedy is to apply foliar calcium sprays as the fruit ripens.

But with regard to all of those ‘big apple’ problems, isn’t it usually the largest apples that are reached for first when it comes apple-eating time?

For those who are interested in adding Honeycrisp to their home orchards, one of the greatest challenges is preventing the apples from growing too large. It’s tempting to watch all those large, attractive apples developing on the branches, but too many maturing apples will bunch up on the tree. If they aren’t thinned, the fruit won't color up and their weight may also cause harm.

Typically, a four-year old Honeycrisp would carry approximately 62 apples per tree. Thinning the fruit also establishes a more uniform annual production.

This cultivar can also be subject to pre-harvest fruit drop in some areas. Honeycrisp trees are wonderfully hardy: up to -30 degrees Fahrenheit, but growers were initially concerned that good tree growth would be achieved with this weaker-growing cultivar before heavy cropping sets in.

sGood fall colour for the fruit is usually guaranteed by harvest time with Nova Scotia’s cooler temperatures.

In some places Honeycrisp commands two to three times the price of traditional apples. That’s a honey of a deal for those in the industry as they continue planting to meet the demand.