Apple Orchards Ripe for the Picking

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Apple season is officially underway.

Mild summer weather has led to an early start to the harvest.

The SweeTango apple is a hybrid of the Honeycrisp and the Zestar!

It’s a fairly new variety of apple that’s not sold in grocery stores – but it can be found at Gottenborg Apple Orchard in Audubon.

“The tree was only released to growers probably, let’s say, seven or eight years ago,” says David Gottenborg.

David Gottenborg isn’t used to picking apples this early.

“It was warm enough, we had good pollination with the bees and so we just have great apples this year,” Gottenborg says.

The full-time chiropractor has more than 2,000 trees and eight different varieties on his orchard.

One of the only growers in this part of the state, he’s been busy. And he’s not the only one.

Farmers all over Minnesota have experienced near-perfect growing conditions.
“Everything across the state is usually running about seven to ten days early, um, which has to do with our blooms in the spring. Our bloom date this year was about the 5th of May. On average, now on average being a not-so relative term with climate change, on average we’re around the 15th of May,” says J.P. Jacobson, President of Minnesota Apple Growers Association.

The Twin Cities are home to dozens of apple orchards across hundreds of acres. But Gottenborg’s smaller size has an advantage.

This orchard is completely chemical free and that works because of these cups. Their bright color and sticky substance attracts several bugs.

“I think if I had to run this like an orchard in the Twin Cities, I couldn’t be a chiropractor and do this. I just wouldn’t have enough time,” Gottenborg says.

Throughout the fall, Gottenborg will sell apples at his store in Audubon on Highway 10 and County Road 11. It’s open from 9-5 just on Saturdays.

You can also find Gottenborg apples at the Veggie Barn and Bus in Fargo and at Hildebrands in West Fargo.