Dole Superkids

You probably know that bears need to sleep in the winter, but did you know that apple trees also need rest in the winter? In order to flower and produce fruit, apple trees need to rest first for about 900–1,000 hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit. When apple trees are resting, they are pruned and prepared for the next growing period.

In early spring, new trees are planted when the rootstock is still resting. After planting, it takes about 2–3 years for apple trees to bear fruit.
Here’s a fun fact about apples: If you took 100 apple seeds from one tree and grew trees from them, each tree ?ould be different!

Did you know you can graft many varieties of apples all onto the same tree? Grafting is when a shoot or bud is cut from one growing plant and attached to another plant. Then the two different plants grow together as one.

Apple trees need fertile soil and lots of water to grow. During the growing season, apple orchards also need hot days and cool nights.
Apple trees grow buds or short shoots, which bloom into beautiful apple blossoms and become the fruit.

In early spring, bees pollinate the apple orchards.

Apple trees can grow 40 feet tall, and sometimes even taller!

But the trees planted in most new apple orchards today grow only 8 feet tall, and still grow as many apples as their ancestors. Today, apple orchards look more like grape vineyards.

In early summer, apple trees are thinned to help the fruit grow big and delicious.

Different varieties of apples ripen at different times of the year. In the United States, most apples are harvested in the fall, from August through October. Apples grown in South American countries, like Chile, are harvested from March through May.

Before apples are harvested, their sugar level, firmness as well as their seed and skin color are tested.

When apples are mature and ripe, they are picked by hand and gently placed in nearby wooden crates.

In the orchard, tractors transport the crates to a central loading area.

Finally, crates of apples are stacked and loaded onto a truck to be transported from the orchard to the packing facility.