These are #1 QUALITY IPM apples grown at the Bear Mountain Orchard in Aspers, Pennsylvania.   Bear Mountain Orchards has committed to IPM standards in their growing practices.  (Look below to find out how IPM apples are grown.)

For the next few weeks, until February 11th, we will be taking orders for these apples.  As soon as the order time closes, we will send the orchard in Pennsylvania a total amount to box up, and we’ll send a semi-truck to pick up the next day.  Once the truck arrives in Franklin, TN, we will unload it and be ready for people to pick up and pay for their orders from 10am-6pm February 13th.
BUSHEL BOXES:  The apples come in 1 bushel boxes (approximately 38-40lbs).  There is no limit on how many boxes you can order.  Every box sold will financially benefit Mercy Community Healthcare and their excellent service to our community.

PRICE:  Currently, #1 quality supermarket apples are running about $1.47-$2.19 per lb.  These 31 quality apples from Pennsylvania are approximately $0.84-$0.96 per lbs.  Please see the order form for exact pricing for each variety of apples.

TESTIMONIALS:

“These (apples) are delicious!! The price was also very pleasing, as I make my own baby food and this was the start for our new little one. Thank you!” – LaDonna

“We ordered a bushel of Golden Delicious apples and they were fantastic! We’ve made lots of apple chips and fruit leather as well as enjoying the apples right from the box. Thanks!” – Andrea

“Apples were delicious. My boys said they were the best they’ve ever eaten!” – Cindy

A sticky apple-shaped trap in the orchard

 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a method of reducing pests, and the diseases they cause, using a combination of common-sense techniques. When the amount of pests in an orchard is reduced naturally, there is less need to apply pesticides.

 Here are some of the techniques used in an IPM system:

Scouting & written record keeping is the foundation of a good IPM program. Growers regularly inspect their crops for signs of harmful insects, disease and weeds. Records that note which pests were sighted and how they were dealt with help the grower make future decisions to prevent damage to his crops.

Planting pest and disease resistant varieties in the orchard helps to minimize the need to control pests.

A pheromone trap among the apples.

Mechanical control such as trapping insects or weeding: Through careful timing and monitoring of temperatures, many harmful insects are eliminated by the use of visual traps, sticky traps, and pheromone traps. (Pheromone traps emit attractive odors to lure male insects.)

Mating Disruption is a strategy that uses synthetic pheromones to confuse male insects and limit their ability to find females for mating.

Targeted spraying is spot treating a problem area of the orchard rather than spraying all the trees, and it’s only done as a last resort, after natural means have failed. Even though IPM orchards use chemical sprays, they are careful to use “gentle sprays,” pesticides that conserve natural enemies of pests and pose the least amount of risk to the farmer and the environment.

Other common-sense practices include cleaning up dead trees, pruning, weeding, mowing and mulching.

Basically, IPM uses a lot of prevention and only a little bit of cure. No, it’s not organic, but it’s a lot better than carelessly spraying on schedule. We think buying from IPM growers makes a lot of sense. Even though it’s a step away from being organic, IPM prices make this natural produce available to many more people at a fraction of the price of organic fruit.