For Northern Illinois orchards, the 2024 season has concluded. Between Halloween and Thanksgiving, some of the orchards have limited hours with pre-picked apples as they begin to shut down for the season. One of the final cultivars in October is 'Evercrisp'  a 'Honeycrisp x Fuji' MAIA apple that keeps really well. It’s a great apple and one that many growers are adding to their orchards. Other late October apples include 'Granny Smith', 'Fuji', 'Pink Lady', and 'Braeburn'. I was fortunate to make it to about 12 orchards over the course of apple season. In these visits, the orchards were in full swing as customers came for apples, pumpkins, and other value-added products like apple cider donuts, and growers shared with me that this was a really good season for fruit quality and yields though some of the production concerns were on heavy crop load, extended drought periods, thinning challenges, environmental stress, and post-harvest disorders. Like most seasons, growers spend the post-season reflecting on changes that may need to be done next year. With dry conditions persisting into the late fall, it’s also a future concern for trees in 2025. These conversations with growers will naturally lead to presentations at our regional schools like the Stateline Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference in Rockford on Monday, February 17, 2025.  

For vegetable growers, weather is still conducive for garlic planting in the northern region. 'Musik', 'German Porcelain', and 'Spanish Roja' are 3 that I would recommend though could be a challenge in finding the amount that one might need. Most farmers markets concluded November 1st and some have shifted indoors for the winter. Leafy greens, winter squash/pumpkins, onions, potatoes, herbs, and other vegetables are regularly available from growers into this month. In fact, I’m still harvesting swiss chard from a patch that was planted in the spring. During the week of November 11, the Rockford region received some much needed rain though combined with cooler temperatures.