Checking the Growing Degree Days for Corvallis, it seems we are about 8% ahead of average. That would seem adequate to explain the amount by which the Chehalis and Gravenstein are showing up early in the market.

A young plum tree, with a single piece of fruit, ripened that one piece of fruit at least six weeks earlier than expected. I thought that maybe because it was a single piece of fruit this was possible. One other young plum tree, with just two pieces, ripened its fruit at about the expected time. Two others, with a just a few pieces each, look as if they will ripen theirs as expected. These trees are all so close together that they share near-identical conditions.

A young apple tree, of a late bearing variety, has started dropping apples. I tested fruit on the tree; one came off easily. Tasted it, and while maybe it is a bit under-ripe, it would have been fully ripe by the end of August. Again this would be at least six weeks earlier than expected. But this tree was not adequately thinned, so the idea that maybe the fruit had extra resources and so could ripen it earlier doesn't seem plausible.

Unless there is something else that would explain this (like young trees sometimes ripening fruit early) then the most likely explanation is that the trees were mislabeled. This would not be entirely surprising.

Thoughts?