Seasons in the Indian Apple Farms

Running and maintaining an apple farm is surely a laborious task. Right from spring season when the pruning process starts till fall when the harvesting is done. Although these two are the busiest times of the year at an apple farm but in the remaining times as well there is a lot going on.
The whole process of growing apples might seem like an arduous task. The absolute joy that the harvesting season brings makes all the hard work worth it in the end.
As soon as the snow melts bees start hovering around the apple blossoms, the minuscule fruit slowly grows into its full size and is ready to be harvested in the fall.
The moment the fruit of your labour lands in your hand, that moment is truly magical for the apple farmer.
Growing apples for apple farmers in India apart from being a profitable venture can also prove to be a healing experience.

Spring

Blooming Season
Spring is one of the busiest times in an apple farm mainly because it is that time when pruning takes place which is a time consuming process. It is also the time when the apple trees are laden with fragrant blossoms of pink, white and red shades. The whole scene is truly a breathtaking sight to behold.

Tiny Fruits
After the blooming of the apple blossoms ends and the petals fall on the ground, little buds of fruit start to emerge in their wake all across these Indian apple farms. These buds will then slowly swell and form into fully grown apples ready to be plucked in a few month's time.

Summer Season

Thinning
Thinning of the apple trees in Indian apple farms starts in the summer and it is an important step in growing apples. The process is mainly performed in order to reduce the number of fruits that a tree holds because if that is not done then the apples will not reach their maximum size as the tree does not have enough space for all the apples to fully mature.
The process is mainly done by spraying the apple trees with hormones to help it drop some of the fruit but when it comes to organic apple farms such as Kayang, the process is done the old-fashioned way which is - by hand.


Harvest
Harvesting of apples Himachali apple farms is done during the month of September to October. But when it comes to Himachal Pradesh the harvesting is usually from June to November. However different regions in Himachal Pradesh have apple harvesting start at different times which is dependent on the altitude.
Just like the spring season when pruning is done, harvest season is also one of the most hectic times of the apple growing season. At the time of the harvest the apples must reach a uniform size, and showcase their distinctive colour and flavour. Depending on the type of apple the colour of fruit usually falls on the spectrum of yellow - red.

Autumn

Harvest Season Continues
Harvesting of apples continues until November where the orchards are filled with workers that help the families to pick the apples from dawn till dusk. As they are harvested they are also cleaned and neatly packed in boxes then loaded on vehicles and shipped to be sold in the domestic market. The superior kinds are exported to international markets as well.

Post-Harvest Care
After the harvest season is completely over the Himachali apple farms are replenished with fertilisers or manure as a way to prepare them for the next season.
After bearing fruits the soil's nutritional value is greatly depleted and so apple farmers use fertilisers such as Nitrogen and Potassium or manure to fortify the soil with the lost nutrients.
All this is completed before the snow starts so that when the snow falls on the ground it helps the manure to get to the roots in a slow and efficient way.

Winter

Maintenance and Care
Winter is the time when the apple orchards are empty, there is a deafening stillness around the naked trees that show off their beautiful shapes after the leaves leave their branches. Winter is an apt time for farmers to check for any maintenance work around the orchard that they could not attend to during the busy season.

Thoughts
As much as consuming apples is an enjoyable act, growing them is also a magical experience. There are so many processes involved in it from pruning to protecting the trees from pests, to making sure the fruits are getting the right nutrients at the right time.Apple farmers toil hard and invest a lot of time and energy into growing disease-free healthy produce for their consumers.