He said the damage will hurt the price he can get for some of his fruit. Harry Ricker of Ricker Hill Orchards oversees about 700 acres of apple trees in seven towns. His orchards in Bridgton, Harrison, Buckfield, Turner and Auburn all got pelted with hailstones, claiming about a third of his crop, he said. It s the worst we ve ever seen, Ricker said.
Hailstones destroy apples by cutting, denting and bruising the skins.
Most of the time it impairs the look of the fruit and depletes its marketability, but it can also open the apple to disease and rot. I ve seen it take hunks right out of the apple, said Peter Wallingford of Wallingford s Fruit House in Auburn. Chris and Kendall Cooper own about 900 acres of trees in Oxford, Androscoggin and Kennebec counties. Chris Cooper s orchards in Buckfield and Livermore were totally wiped out, and together they lost about 300 acres of apples to hailstones. Cooper is confident he can salvage about 60 percent of the loss for cider.