Apple picking is available Labor Day weekend through mid-October in our Urbandale orchard located at 9875 Meredith Drive. Picking hours are:
- 9 AM – 5 PM Tuesday through Sunday
- The last admittance is at 4.00 PM
- CLOSED on Monday.
OPEN HOURS DO CHANGE DUE TO THE WEATHER, FRUIT RIPENING, AND OCCASIONALLY OTHER FACTORS. UNEXPECTED CLOSINGS AND OTHER UPDATES ARE COMMUNICATED THROUGH OUR FACEBOOK PAGE. ALWAYS CHECK IT BEFORE COMING TO PICK.
OUR FARM IS DOG-FRIENDLY. Your pet must be on a leash and well-behaved. You will be asked to show a doggy waste bag for clean-up if needed. By entering the farm, you are taking full responsibility for your animal.
Admission is $5 per person (children 2 and younger are free) and purchased at the gate. Apples are priced per bag in the chart below.
The $5 entry fee covers our additional expenses associated with running the u-pick operation compared to offering traditional, pre-picked fruit. The biggest expense is the loss of fruit occurring with the public picking and dropping fruit on the ground. Apples picked up off the ground by our cleanup crew are 100 % unusable because of the possible presence of harmful bacteria in the soil. Other expenses are additional liability insurance, extra social media and phone communication due to multiple crop updates, weather changes, property upgrades like gravel road for convenient public access, additional signage, rental of bathroom and handwashing stations, knowledgeable staff, and other investments involved with running a smooth u-pick operation.
We take cash, Debit, Credit, EBT, WIC, Senior, and personal checks.
Apple Ripening Times (varies yearly):
1st week of September: Premier Honeycrisp, Blondee, Gala, and McIntosh
2nd week of September: Honeycrisp and Jonathan
3rd week of September: Cortland, Empire, Crimson Crisp, and Fuji
Last week of September: Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, and Jonagold
2nd week of October: Ida Red and Pink Lady
3rd week of October: Chieftain
Early November: Granny Smith, Arkansas Black, and EverCrisp
Remember, we are a functioning orchard and love to grow fruit for our customers to pick. But the end result you see now does not just happen – it takes years of attention and hard work ( pruning, mowing, staffing, tree training, fertilizing, irrigating, beekeeping, and more). All of these tasks are done without knowing if you are actually going to get a crop, or if Mother Nature decides to interrupt (hail, wind etc). Enjoy the apple picking at Iowa Orchard!