AREA GROWERS HOPE APPLE CROP OUTDOES PEACHES

After a peach crop that fruit growers admit was the pits, some Southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri orchard owners are worried that a poor apple crop may peel away further at an already disappointing fruit season.

The summer peach-picking season will close this week with the picking of Rio Losa gems. Apple picking already has started in some areas and will be in full swing by early next week.

"We're picking some early apple varieties now," said Bill Hartline of Hartline Orchards near Alto Pass, Ill., "We'll have apple varieties through most of October."

Hartline and David Diebold of Diebold's Orchards at Kelso and Benton agreed that the apple harvest could be shorter than the peach crop.

The Hartlines, who have four orchards in Southern Illinois, say their peach crop was down by about a third, but the apple crop may be down as much as 50 percent.

Hartline said many trees in low areas are not producing anything, but trees in higher altitudes look good.

Southern Illinois growers were hit by sub-zero temperatures in mid-February and March, which affected peach and apple trees in low areas.

Diebold blames cloudy and rainy weather for some apple woes.

"Our apple trees escaped the frost, but the cloudy weather apparently caused some tree stress," said Diebold. "Some of our tree are loaded; some of them are almost empty."

Stanley Beggs of Pioneer Apple Orchards near Jackson agreed that apple production is down.

"The quality is great," said Beggs, who has been picking apples since the first week of August.

Pioneer Orchards, managed by Beggs' son, Scott Beggs, will start its annual pick-your-own apple program Aug. 31, and continue through Halloween.

Consumers may not notice the shortage of apples but could be paying more for the fruit at the retail market for a while.

"We'll have plenty of apples for our retail customers," said Diebold. "We normally ship a lot of our apple crops, but we'll cut down on shipments to take care of our regular customers."

Diebold will start picking such varieties as gala, Mollie's delicious and Ozark golds next week.

Flamm Orchards near Cobden, Ill., expects better things for the apple season.

"We were way down on peaches this year," said Larry Flamm. "But the apple crop is looking good. We may be down on golden delicious, but all the other varieties are good."

Flamm Orchards, which wholesales the bulk of its crop, will start picking next week.

Although the local apple crop may be short in supply, producers in three big apple-producing states -- Michigan, Washington and California -- are expecting big crops. Once those states start picking, market prices may improve.