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the fruit. “The goal is to have the nicest, most well-branched tree you can get,” said Mike.
The Meltons, while continually moving into the future, have not been without dramatic setbacks along the way. In 1990, a hard freeze took out their entire crop, “a real low point for the orchard,” said Mike.
But true to form, the brothers rolled up their sleeves and began again. This year, conditions have been excellent, said Mike, and they are expecting to have an excellent crop.
Mellen, which produces around 50,000 bushels of apples last year, in the past has exported much of the fruit to Sweden. The reason for this, said Mike, was that an extremely hot season last year caused the fruit to be off color and the Swedish are “not particular as to the color of their apples, but more interested in the flavor.”
Mellen has four full-time employees and currently has 12 employees working altogether. Migrant workers are hired for the harvest. Once the apples are harvested they are sent to Winchester and then sent to packers who sort, grade and pack into bushel boxes according to size, type and color.
The actual selling is handled by a broker who finds the buyers and arranges to have the fruit shipped. Even after the harvest, there is no “downtime” for the orchard. Work commences immediately, pruning and fertilizing.
“Replacing the nutrients that have been sucked out of the soil is a major endeavor," commented Mike.
Mike explained that Mellen has made every effort to cut back the amounts of pesticides used to a minimum. “One of the advantages of having a dwarf orchard,” he explained, “is being able to use less pesticides. Mellen uses a presticide system entitled Tree Row Volume, which enables them to calibrate the leaf surface to the amount of pesticide used.
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