Apple season is no longer coming, it is here. As of this week Harbes Orchard in Riverhead is picking four varieties, Milk Pail's u-pick fields in Water Mill are open every Friday through Sunday, and Wickham's in Cutchogue is running its Saturday pick-your-own. The thing that ruins more orchard trips than weather is that almost none of Long Island's farms pick every day, and each one keeps its own calendar. Here is who picks when, farm by farm, verified against each farm's own pages this week.

One honest note before the list: every u-pick apple orchard on Long Island is on the East End. Most of them sit along a single ten-mile stretch of Sound Avenue and Main Road between Calverton and Cutchogue, with two more across the bay in Water Mill. From Nassau that is a real drive, 60 to 90 minutes, which is exactly why it pays to know before you leave whether the farm you are heading to actually picks that day.

Harbes Orchard, Riverhead: the full production, and a festival this weekend

The 5698 Sound Avenue orchard is the most built-out apple day of the group, the one designed for a family outing rather than a quick bag of Galas. It is open daily, 10am to 6pm on weekdays and 9am to 6pm on weekends, and the farm's current picking list runs Ultima Gala, Gale Gala, Rubymac and Honeycrisp, with varieties rotating as rows come ripe. Around the trees sit a Robin Hood themed corn maze, kids' activities and live music on weekends, and weekend and holiday visits are ticketed, so buy admission before you go.

This weekend is the one to circle: Harbes throws its annual Apple Festival on Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, from 9am to 6pm, with the Apple Express shuttling pickers out to a 15-acre orchard where the fruit hangs low enough for the smallest kids to reach.

Lewin Farms, Calverton: the original, no frills attached

Lewin, at 812 Sound Avenue, calls itself the first u-pick farm on Long Island, and the operation still runs the old way: open fields, drive-in parking past the u-pick trailer, and a picking schedule set by what is actually ripe. Apples run from late August through October here, the fields are generally open 9am to about 4:30pm, and the farm is blunt that days vary with weather and crop. The move is to call the farm's recorded daily line at 631-929-4327 the morning you want to go. The farm stand is open every day but Tuesday, 9am to 5pm, and no pets are allowed in the fields.

Woodside Orchards, Aquebogue and Jamesport: the cider stop, one week out

Woodside's u-pick opens September 19, so this is the one to bookmark rather than drive to this weekend. When it opens, the two locations split the calendar in a way that catches people every year: the Jamesport orchard at 116 Manor Lane picks on weekends only and takes cash only, while the Aquebogue farm at 729 Main Road picks on weekdays only and takes cards. The family grows 28 varieties across the season on semi-dwarf trees, which means nobody needs a ladder, and you pay by volume, so buy the bag on site and leave your own baskets in the car. The Aquebogue tasting room pours the farm's cider, hard and sweet, with tastings and baked goods on weekends.

Wickham's Fruit Farm, Cutchogue: Saturdays only, 300 years of practice

Wickham's, at 28700 Main Road, is a designated bicentennial farm, meaning the same family has been working this waterside land for more than two centuries, and it treats u-pick accordingly: pick-your-own runs on Saturdays, 10am to 3pm, and that is the whole window. Miss it and the farmstand is open Monday through Saturday, 9am to 5pm, with the farm's donuts, pies and cider, some of it pressed on the farm's old cider press. Wagon rides usually run on Saturdays to carry pickers out to the orchard. The farm is closed Sundays, so do not point the car east on the wrong morning.

Milk Pail, Water Mill: the South Fork classic, with a Honeycrisp warning

The Milk Pail's u-pick farm at 50 Horsemill Lane runs Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10am to 5:30pm, from now through October, with two bonus Mondays: September 21 and Columbus Day, October 12. The farm posted an update this week that matters if you are driving for one specific apple: the Honeycrisp crop came in small this year, so u-pick amounts are limited, while everything else, from Empire and Gala to Jonamac, Mutsu and Jonagold, is plentiful. No reservations needed. One field rule worth knowing: roped-off rows are not closed for fun, they are still ripening, and the open sections are where the ready fruit is.

Seven Ponds Orchard, Water Mill: the low-key you-pick

A few minutes from the Milk Pail at 65 Seven Ponds Road, Seven Ponds is the un-produced version of the day: a you-pick farm with apples, berries and vegetables, a hayride and a playground, and per the farm's own pages it is open seven days a week, 9am to 6pm. There is no website and no ticketing layer, which is most of the charm. A call ahead at 631-726-8015 to ask what is ripe is the only planning the place requires.

The rules that actually matter

Six farms, six calendars, so the short version: this weekend your picks are Harbes any day, the festival if you want the whole show, Lewin if the recorded line says fields are open, Wickham's on Saturday only, and Milk Pail or Seven Ponds if you would rather point the car at the South Fork. Woodside joins on September 19. Bring cash for Jamesport, leave the dog and your own bags at home, and if there is a Honeycrisp loyalist in your house, go early. The season runs about six weeks, and the best of it is the next three.