Ideal Weather Sets the Stage for Strong Apple Harvest

Editor’s Note: Kris Hains talks with OMP farmer Isaiah Wunsch about this year’s apple season. Most OMP farmers have started apple harvest, and you’ll find lots of varieties, including the popular Honeycrisp, at roadside stands on the OMP. -jb

Cooler, wetter weather on the Old Mission Peninsula has been good news for local orchards this year. At Wunsch Farms, the conditions have helped set the stage for what looks to be a healthy apple harvest.

Isaiah Wunsch says overall conditions have been favorable for growing apples, in part due to timing. While he notes they experienced some frost damage and what he calls “questionable pollinating conditions” with their cherry crops, the apples were spared.

“The apples, just by virtue of the fact that they’re a little bit later than the cherries, really look like they came through the spring quite well,” he says.

He describes 2025 as something of a “boring year” for apples — and in farming, that’s a good thing. The cooler, wetter summer has helped younger orchards thrive, creating what he calls “pretty favorable” growing conditions overall.

Their crop features the popular Honeycrisp, as well as other varieties like McIntosh, Jonagold, Jonathan, Empire, Yellow Delicious, and Rhode Island Greening — the latter most often recognized from Tandem Ciders’ “Green Man” hard cider in Suttons Bay (yes, those are Wunsch Farms apples in that cider!).

Roughly half of their orchards are now planted in Honeycrisp, he says, and northern Michigan has built a reputation within the industry as one of the best places in the country to grow the variety.

He notes that weather patterns harmful to cherries can sometimes be a silver lining for apples.

“If it’s too wet, that can cause a lot of problems for cherries, but a wetter season is actually favorable for apples,” he explains. “So part of the reason that we do grow apples and cherries is that it’s kind of like an in-house insurance program.”

Unlike other parts of the state, Wunsch says Old Mission growers generally don’t rely on frost fans or other spring protection methods for apples. “The types of freeze events that we get up here generally don’t seem like they would benefit from frost fans, at least not out on Lake Michigan,” he explains, noting that cold air masses over the lake behave differently than in inland orchards.

Harvest is expected to begin in the second or third week of September, making it a perfect time to visit the Old Mission Peninsula.

Wunsch Farms, which marked its 100th anniversary last year, has seen the impact of the local food movement firsthand. Traverse City wasn’t even a major sales outlet for their fruit five or six years ago, he says, but today local grocers carry more regional produce than ever before.

“The local food movement has definitely been key to our ability to sell more fruit right in our backyard,” he says.

And he doesn’t overlook the fact that local consumers play a big part, too.

“It’s great when locals get into the local produce,” Wunsch says. “The interest in local produce up in this corner of the state seems to have really increased a lot in the last few years. So, as farmers, we certainly appreciate that.”

Want to support your favorite Old Mission Peninsula farms? Check out the many farm stands along OMP roads, many of which sell Honeycrisp and other locally-grown apples.

Wunsch Farms also participates in Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan. Here’s Isaiah’s mom, Barb Wunsch, loading cherries onto a Food Rescue truck. Apple pre-orders are available on their website, and you also have the option to help Wunsch Farms address food insecurity in our region. And below that is a favorite apple recipe from Barb’s mom, Reba Dohm. -jb

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