- Advertisement - SweeTango shipping from Applewood is under way September 4, 2019 Applewood Fresh Growers LLC packed its first SweeTango of the season over Labor Day weekend. “Now we’re rocking and rolling” in the new Michigan apple season, said Scott Swindeman, who owns the Sparta, MI-based firm. Applewood's SweeTango harvest began Aug. 26. The fruit “needs to sit for four or five days before packing,” thus the delay until Labor Day. “In Michigan, the color and finish on the fruit is by far the nicest crop we ever had," said Swindeman. "The size is a little disappointing, but the crop is very, very good.” 1 / 2 Overall in Michigan, the apple crop is three or four days later than a year ago. “We’ve had outstanding weather,” Swindeman added. “We’ve had cool temperatures at night and sunny days. We are experiencing the kind of weather we always like to have at this time of the year. For the previous two or three years, it was not like this early on” in the harvest season. Applewood’s harvest of McIntosh and Premier Honeycrisp, an early-maturing Honeycrisp straink, was just beginning in the first week of September. Swindeman said the Premier Honeycrisp harvest comes two or three weeks ahead of the regular Honeycrisp variety. “It’s nice to get started a couple weeks early,” he noted. “The color, quality and condition are fabulous.” Gala harvest in Swindeman’s orchard in southeast Michigan was under way in early September. According to the firm, Applewood Fresh is the lead marketer in the Midwest for the SweeTango, which comes from a Minnesota breeding program. The variety is a cross between the Honeycrisp and Zestar! apple varieties. Applewood is also the exclusive seller of the KIKU and Kanzi managed varieties in the Midwest. In a recent agreement with Stemilt, based in Wenatchee, WA, Applewood is planting significant acreage of the new Rave variety in two Michigan locations. Print Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) 2 / 2.