Sheepwash Chronicle Christmas 2016 edition

Cider Apple Orchards in Sheepwash
It is twenty years since Richard and I planted our first cider orchards on the west side of Sheepwash, around
Gortleigh and South Hill. Many Sheepwash residents have asked questions about our operations, so here’s
an update.
Cider orcharding is different to other crops, as most orchards are only planted with a guaranteed contract
from a cider maker for a minimum of twenty years, due to the high initial investment and long wait for
return income.
Before harvest the crop has to be
predicted and an attempt made to book
enough slots at each factory for pressing
the apples at the right time. In the peak
weeks there is often more fruit ready
than can be pressed, so the harvesting
has to be juggled according to fruit
ripeness, weather conditions and factory
slots.
Many of you will have seen our apples
leaving Sheepwash on Evans Transport
lorries. We currently supply four larger
South West businesses – Thatchers
(Somerset), Sandford Orchards
(Crediton), Hunt Cider (Paignton) and
Ostlers Cider Vinegar (Barnstaple), as
well as several small producers.
Sheep are grazed in the orchards in winter, but have to be
taken out if the grass is covered by snow, because they
would then eat the trees.
We grow six main varieties of cider apple to give a range of cropping time - Major, Ellis Bitter, Ashton Bitter,
Browns, Michelin and Dabinett. The apples usually ripen for picking in this order, with some overlap. The
four earliest varieties drop their crop over a long period of time and have to be picked up three or four
times in a season. The later varieties drop over a shorter, later period and usually have to be picked up
twice.
We usually start picking in the second or third week of September, but harvesting effort increases
significantly from mid- October until the second or third week of November. In one year our last apples
were sent on the 30 th November!
First the blossom, then the crop – the picture shows 50 – 60 tons (two lorry-loads) of cider apples.
We have three low ground pressure harvesters, which look a bit like large ride-on lawnmowers, a shaker
which is sometimes used to shake the last fruit off the trees, and a number of trailers to hold fruit. The fruit
24