'Juicy, crunchy' apples abound in Windsor-Essex as growing season runs ahead of schedule

With plenty of rain and a lot of sunny weather, it's turning out to be a bumper year for Ontario apples — and Windsor-Essex is no exception, with apples already plentiful and ready for picking. 

"We've got a great crop of apples this year ... and they're nice and juicy and and crunchy," said Ryan Patillo, who with his family owns Patillo Apple Orchard in Lakeshore, Ont. 

"I think we've got close to 14 different varieties that are that are ready at the moment."

The small family orchard offers both self-pick and ready-picked apples. This year, thanks to warm weather and a good amount of rain, many of their apple varieties are ready early — as much as two or three weeks ahead of schedule. 

"Our Mutsu apples we've just opened up today and, and they're usually well into the first or second week of October," he said. "We're definitely ahead. But hey, it's great. While they're ready, let's pick them."

That's not just the case on the Patillo family orchard: Last week the Ontario Apple Growers said they're seeing similar patterns across the province, making it a great fall for people looking to pick and eat Ontario-grown apples. 

"It's made a very sizeable apple with a lot of moisture content," said Brian Rideout, chair of the association and an apple grower in Blenheim, Ont. 

"It's very sweet because the sun shone every day, it only rained in the evenings, and so it's made a wonderful apple here for us ... The rest of the province has been similar."

At his orchard, Rideout says they're also running about two weeks ahead of schedule. 

"Myself, I'm kind of going a little bit nuts in that I'm constantly roaming the orchards, finding out 'is everything on time? Has it jumped ahead?,'" he said. "Some varieties have actually jumped ahead and we're already getting ready to pick those.

"Now, we're just hoping that it stays this way right to the end."

Rideout says the nice weather won't extend the apple growing season, but is key for agritourism. 

"You can't ask for a nicer start to the fall than what we've had," he said. "If we don't get a frost by the end of apple harvest, we're happy."

Rideout says last year was "beyond tough" for the commercial apple industry in the province because of inflation, lower-priced competition and increases in the cost of supplies. Apple pricing essentially works on consignment and last year many growers saw record-low prices, he said.

While pricing isn't set yet for the 2024-25 year, he's hoping this year will be a better one. 

The best thing people can do, he said, is buy Ontario-grown — or at the least, Canadian-grown — apples in stores, or get out to a local orchard and pick their own. 

And Ontario apples aren't restricted to just the fall, he says: With advancements in technology and data about when and how to pick apples, you can get Ontario apples year-round. 

"We can grow an apple that will actually get better in storage ... We collect all this data and this information and have done a lot of research on how to pick the apple correctly so that it will store for a long time. The technology is there for us to build storage facilities."

Southwestern Ontario grows about 20 per cent of the province's apples

In Ontario the most popular varieties are Gala, Honey Crisp and Ambrosia, all juicy and sweet, Rideout said, but there are 15 main apple varieties growing along the shores of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. 

The Ontario Apple Growers represent 200 commercial apple growers across the province, and southwestern Ontario grows about 20 per cent of the province's apples.