Oneida Nation Apple Orchard suspends 'pick your own' season due to low crop yield

ONEIDA — The Oneida Nation Apple Orchard will not open for pick-your-own due to low crop yield.

Higher temperatures disrupted the harvest with many trees failing to produce, the Oneida Nation Apple Orchard said in a news release published on Facebook. Vanessa Miller, food and agriculture area manager, said the orchard experienced a "very obscure year" that started in fall of 2023.

"The winter season was abnormally warm, which triggered an early bud break in our trees," Miller said in the release.

Miller explained that Wisconsin saw some of the warmest temperatures on record in February, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The warm winter creates a "false spring," which induces pollination in the trees, but when the frost returns the flowers are killed.

"Unfortunately, with a late frost we experienced in April, this is exactly what happened," she said.

Miller also said that those varieties of apple trees that did flower in a decent time window also experience adverse weather conditions during pollination. The fluctuations between cold and warm temperatures, along with wet weather triggered a survival mechanism of the trees, which led to the apples falling.

"As we assessed our orchard yield, there is simply not enough crop to allow 'pick your own,'" Miller said.

Information about retail hours for the limited crops will be announced in the coming weeks.

For more information visit oneida-nsn.gov or follow its Facebook page.

Ariel Perez is a business reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach him at APerez1@gannett.com or view his Twitter profile at @Ariel_Perez85.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: No apple picking this fall at the Oneida Nation Apple Orchard