Social education worker Stefan Igelhaut and Wolfgang Lahm, chairman of the district association for horticulture and land management Nürnberger Land, explain to Das Nürnberger Land: "The sun brings the sweetness, but the dryness causes them to be smaller than in the last years." The older trees bear many fruits, the younger, with less deep roots, have problems absorbing enough water. The trees are of course also strained according to their fruit load, which demands the right care to avoid breaking branches, says Lahm.
The demands of the retail industry have changed enormously, explain the experts: The fruit is judged only by its appearance and sweetness - there is no room for more intense taste or colour variations. The apples should also be crisp and not floury. Fruits that do not meet these criteria are rejected.
For smaller trees with opportunities for regular irrigation, this summer was ideal. This provided fruit farmers with big and sweet apples.
For 2019, Lahm and Ingelhaut expect a bumpy harvest. This is due to the Alternanz, a two-year fluctuation of the fruit yield. To counteract the alternation and to spread the yield over two years, a so-called summer cut is made. This should also increase the quality and size of the fruit. Also, before the solstice in June, small unripe fruits can be picked to thin out the tree.
In Hesse, the drought caused problems in apple cultivation, says the Frankfurter Neue Presse. "We are ten days earlier than is usual," said the second chairman of the National Association for Acreage, Andreas Klein. At the moment, the main varieties are Elstar and Gala. Quantity and size of the fruits are sufficient. However, a real balance can only be drawn up in winter, as the long drought can possibly lead to a reduced shelf life. "Whether there will be any left in February and March, is questionable," said Klein.
The season was exhausting so far; several times smaller apples had to be removed from the trees to make room for larger ones. "The trees had it very, very bad," said Klein, whose farm is located in Wiesbaden-Nordenstadt. In order to protect himself against various weather conditions in the course of the advancing climate change, he has invested in hail protection nets and cultivates varieties that can better cope with drought.
A decrease of 10-20% in the harvest is reported in Saxony. This was announced on Friday by the National Association of Saxon Fruit on Friday in Pirna. This year, 75,000 to 80,000 tons of apples are to be harvested instead of the usual 90,000 tons. Nevertheless, this result would still exceed the previous year's level of 70,000 tonnes. The apple is Saxony's most important fruit, says Neues Deutschland.