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Growing Apples
Mott's purchases apples from more than 400 apple growers in the United States and Canada. These apple growers grow apples specifically for Mott's apple sauce and juice. Apple growers have an interesting job that requires different tasks every day depending on the time of year or season.
Apple Growing Timeline by Season:
Spring
As the weather begins to warm, an apple farm becomes very active. Apple trees come out of hibernation or "dormancy" and begin to grow. Apple trees are planted in the spring and will live for many years. It can take four to five years before an apple tree begins to grow apples. As the tree becomes older and grows in size, it will start producing many apples.
During the spring season, apple farmers are busy mowing and fertilizing their orchards and also monitoring the apple trees for damaging insects and disease. As the trees begin to grow, leaves will form and the trees will blossom. Apple blossoms are typically white and the whole tree will be covered with them. It is the job of the bee to pollinate the apple blossom so that they will grow into apples. Only seven percent of the apple blossoms need to be pollinated and grow into apples for the apple tree to have a full crop.
Summer
During the summer months, apple growers will continue to mow the orchards and monitor the fruit for insects and disease. They will also irrigate the orchards if the summer is dry and thin the apple trees (remove some apples) if there are too many apples on the tree. At the end of the summer, apple growers begin preparing for harvest. This includes hiring people to pick the apples and making sure the machinery and trucks are ready to go.
Fall
For an apple grower, fall is the best time of the year. An apple grower finally gets to see big, beautiful apples hanging on their trees. All apples are picked by hand and carefully placed into big wooden boxes. One apple picker can pick up to 5,000 pounds of apples a day. The boxes of apples are taken out of the orchards by tractors and placed on trucks to be delivered to Mott's. Mott's will then use the apples for making apple sauce or apple juice. Visit our processing section for more information.
Winter
After harvest, activities begin to slow down for the apple grower. Apple trees go to sleep or into "dormancy" during the winter months. During dormancy, apple growers will prune the apple trees so that they are ready for the next growing season.