PEIWhile conditions on Prince Edward Island remain dry and hot this first week of September, the folks over at Arlington Orchards north of Miscouche aren’t too unhappy. Dry conditions haven’t hurt the crop this year, says Barry Balsom of Arlington OrchardsRyan McKellop · CBC News · Posted: Sep 03, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours agoBarry Balsom, the co-owner of Arlington Orchards in Western P.E.I., expects ‘a fair, fair bit of apples’ by the time his harvest is done, partly due to the hot, sunny weather. (Jane Robertson/CBC)While conditions on Prince Edward Island remain dry and hot this first week of September, the folks over at Arlington Orchards north of Miscouche aren’t too unhappy. “One thing about the hot, dry weather is [it will] produce a phenomenally high-quality crop,” said Barry Balsom, co-owner of the orchard.Balsom said disease and insects were not much of an issue this year, and he’s giving credit to the weather.”Fungal diseases were at their minimal, you know, other diseases that affect the apples, insects were at their minimal,” he said. “You know, they suffer too, I think.”But while the apples are healthy with few blemishes, they are less juicy than usual, he added. That means it will take more to produce the same amount of cider this season.P.E.I.’s extremely dry summer didn’t hurt this year’s apple crop, but may have damaged the fruit buds for next year’s crop that usually develop in July. (Jane Robertson/CBC)June through August have been a dry three months for Prince Edward Island, with volunteer station rainfall totals ranging from 120 millimetres to 190 millimetres, which is 50 to 70 per cent of the normal 230-270 millimetre range for the province. Balsom said some of Arlington’s newly planted trees have been struggling, since they haven’t had the time to establish deep root systems that can help them cope with dry conditions. They have needed more watering than usual. “We have a lot of older trees in this section, so the roots tend to be more deep and more established,” he said while giving a tour of the orchard.Balsom said the U-pick was opened early this year, over the Labour Day weekend, due to an early spring and the way heat waves in July and August sped up growth. Arlington Orchards in Western P.E.I. opened to the public for the picking season about a week earlier than it did last year. (Jane Robertson/CBC)All that said, Balsom said he certainly wouldn’t “turn down a drop of rain” some time soon. “We’re in territory I’ve never lived through,” he said. “I’m looking at the two-week forecast and there’s not a rain cloud.”Even when rain appears in the forecast, he added, “we’re promised 5 millimetres or promised 3 millimetres and it doesn’t seem to develop. The clouds go east, the clouds go west… If we get through this year, I don’t know what else I’m gonna worry about. I guess I’ve seen pretty well it all.”Some of what he’s seen: “We’ve lived through two hurricanes, two freezes and now a drought… I’ve never seen it this dry, as hot or as windy ever before, and I’ve been here a while.”The orchard north of Miscouche also grows peaches (shown) as well as pears and plums. (Jane Robertson/CBC)Worry for next yearThe drought carries the opposite of a silver lining when Balsom turns his thoughts to 2026. “The fruit buds were formed for next year in July,” he said. When the dry spell started to set in, “the first thing they stopped doing is producing fruit buds for next year. So there is a possibility that there’s a lot less apples and other product in Prince Edward Island, absolutely.”How much that happens, and what happens? Well, we’ll see, but that’s a very real concern at this point.” As for this year’s harvest, he said on the high end, the orchard is looking to have about 800 to 900 bins of crops, with each bin weighing roughly 750 pounds or 340 kilograms.”So that’s a fair, fair bit of apples.”ABOUT THE AUTHORRyan McKellop is a graduate of the Holland College Journalism program and a web writer at CBC P.E.I.With files from Taylor O’Brien
Western P.E.I. orchard expecting ‘high quality’ crop this year, but next season could be iffy
