Apple Starr Orchards

This was such a great experience for our family! You get to pull around you loot or your kids in a little red wagon. On top of that, the kiddos got immediate satisfaction as they got to sink their teeth into a pear they picked off the tree themselves. The gentleman that set us up was more than gracious for us coming and made us feel at home right off the bat. Will defiantly make this a family trip from here on! Plenty of low lying fruit for the little hands to reach and even though a lot was picked through there was still plenty to fill two bags on October 2^nd.

No dogs allowed, AND no apples on September 20? There are plenty other orchards that better ration their U-​pick trees and happily welcome pups. Head down the road to Volcan Mountain vineyard where they still have apples and love furry friends

We went today (9÷7÷15) for our first apple-​picking experience and our family of 5 had fun. We paid 40 $ for two bags and filled one bag with several varieties of apples, Granny Smith, Jonagold and others (though we couldn’t even find one Gala left to pick). We filled the other bag with apples and pears (Bosc and Bartlett). Following the owners’ direction, we tasted as we went.
We did arrive early, just before 10AM, and when we left maybe an hour later the place was quite full and all the pickers and wagons were in use.

We went yesterday (9÷5÷15), which seems like the beginning of the season.
First off, the orchard is past Volcan Valley Orchard. So if you see Volcan, keep going down the dirt road until it ends.
Parking: Plentiful and I felt the parking flow was well handled.
Price: 1 bag for $ 25 and 2 bags for $ 40. It seems pricey but it’s organic and you are paying for the experience.
Fruit: We choose to pick Fuji apples. Several trees had bountiful options but there weren’t many left. (When looking online, some of the other orchards don’t even grow fujis so this wouldn’t have been an option at all.) The Macintosh were yummy tasting as were the galas. The bosc pears were plentiful but not ripe so we couldn’t try them. Since pears (unlike apples) will ripen after picking, we picked a few for later.
Picking: They have apple pickers and radio flyers available. The last two years we went to Volcan and pickers were not available. I can’t confirm that is true for this year. We didn’t get a picker because they were already taken but I saw others using them and they seemed helpful.
Tip: Check their website for information on if they are open and when.
Bathroom: I know they have real bathrooms but we did not have a need to use them. I heard the line was long but the bathroom facility was nice.
Overall, we would go there again.

This place definitely wasn’t what it was all cracked out to be. Worst ride there, winding roads made my daughter sick and she puked in the car. The weather however was great, reminded us of the east coast. When we got there, it was cash only and it was $ 20 for 2 small bags that held well if their apples were any good. The trees were mostly naked or had rotting apples hanging from the branches. Parking was ridiculous and people mostly came there to have their free glasses of wine from tasting. I was recommended this place by a co-​worker, I definitely wouldn’t go back there or recommend it to amyone. California should definitely stick to what they are good at… wine making.

We picked Apple Starr over other orchards because of the Unilocal reviews last month. It definitely did NOT live up to them. First, the bag you get for $ 25 is tiny. Second, the fruit was definitely sub-​par. We went early in the season and most trees were overpicked, full of half-​eaten and rotting fruit, or only left with underripe fruit. There are several other orchards to pick from on the same road and we will absolutely not return to Apple Starr again.

Don’t believe the hype and the other reviews. Either this place has gone seriously downhill, or people are lying. We just spent this weekend apple picking at Apple Starr Orchards, and it was nothing special. I think the pictures on their website were actually taken at the Volcan Valley Orchard. Apple Starr charged $ 25 a bag and the fruit was so picked over that it was hard to find any nice fruit left. It looked like all the nice apples of been picked and the remainder was rotten, bird pecked or had bugs. Still, we did find enough pieces of fruit to fill our bag… It just took us a long time to find good fruit to do so. As we are driving out we saw Volcan Valley orchard which look much nicer… We vowed to go there next year instead!

Getting a hold of the people at this farm was kind of frustrating. I went to Julian at the tail end of the apple season at the end of September, and so the lady at the hotel I was staying at told me to call around and find out which farms were still open for the season. I tried calling this place so many times, but I kept getting their answering machine. Because of that, we actually went to Volcan Valley, shame because Apple Starr Orchards is so much better! It’s much more expensive because everyone who enters has to have a bag. So we had to pay $ 20 for two little paper bags of fruit, even though I didn’t want to pick any. at Volcan Valley, I was able to just accompany my mom and take pictures of her, without having to pay an entrance fee. But my mom was in an apple frenzy! Plus she wanted pears too and Apple Starr Orchards had both so even after going to Volcan Valley we came here for more fruit! When we got there I almost thought the place was closed, even though after finally getting in touch with the farm via phone they told me it was open. We had to wait like 10 minutes for someone to come and give us our bags because the front was unattended.
Those things though I’m willing to overlook and give this place a 4 star review because of everything that followed. I’ve only been to two orchards but this is a really good one to check out. Ray, the person who sold us our bags was super jovial and emphasized the need to try before we pick. He was like every tree is different, despite the fact that the tree next to it is of the same variety, it could taste completely different! So he was like taste taste taste! Seems kind of like a waste but he said so so that’s what we did! It took a lot longer to walk around this farm, because most of the whole thing was open! yay! and it had a lot more varietals to pick from.
The fruit trees here are much bigger, wider spaced apart and taller than Volcan. It’s fun because you get to use these like poles to pick the fruit at the top of the trees lol it was cool watching my mom pick fruit with it. We rarely found a bad tree. Everything tasted amazingly sweet. So funny too because while we were walking around the orchard we could hear fruit falling! And my mom would be like where was it?! Sometimes we could see the fruit fall and we’d pick up that specific one. How rare is it to find a piece of fruit that ripens on its tree to the point where it falls off? They were PERFECT! it was so cute watching my mom run around when she would hear something fall hahaha On a regular basis she literally eats like 5 servings of fruit a day, so goes bananas over bananas and apples and everything else so she had a great time! The fruit sits really well too. A lot of time when you buy fruit at the store it’ll go back within like the week or something, especially pears. but the fruit here lasted my mom forever! Even tho I’ve never paid $ 20 at one time for fruit, it was totally worth it.

What a first great apple picking trip. I had planned on going to a pear orchard but it was closed so kept on the road and found Apple Starr Orchards. There was lots of fruit, the people were super nice. A great time had by us all. Now what to do with are loot?

There a quite a few orchards to choose from in Julian, but we picked Apple Starr because it’s organic and they had both apples and pears. It’s on the expensive side at $ 25 a bag, but you do get a ton of fruit for the price, it’s organic, and they are happy to let you eat as you pick here, which is great when you come with kids. The people working there were very friendly and helpful, and we ended up with tons of delicious Fuji apples, Red Delicious apples and 2 different varieties of pears I can’t remember the name of. They were all very tasty. My 2-​year-​old probably ate 5 pieces of fruit while we were there. What a great, fun, family experience!

Hmmm, not quite sure why this place has 5 stars.
When you pull up, there’s a bunch of different companies/​orchards you can choose from. We chose apple star due to its reviews.
I guess it was helpful that there was a regular bathroom instead of just having the port-​a-​potty as the only option … but I did have to wait 30 minutes in line just to use the one person bathroom! :(That didn’t start off my journey very well but I can overlook that.
Finally got a «½ peck» bag which was $ 12. We went the end of September and it seems as if the majority of the apples and pears were rotting on the ground. The pear selection seemed to be better than the apples. Many of both were rather small.
Another down fall is that it took us almost 30+ minutes to hunt down an apple picker pole. They were very short on them, I feel like they should have more available.
As we drove away a few hours later, we were viewing the other orchards and they looked A LOT more lush and full of colorful apples and pears! Hmmmm. Not sure what happened, maybe it was just a bad season for Apple Starr?
I would definitely come back to Julian since it is such a random, fun activity and great for all ages… but I would personally pick a different company next time!
Anyone who is going from Oct 1, 2013 til the season is over, I’d look elsewhere.

BEST APPLE (& PEAR) Picking trip EVER!
Trees were just the right height for my 3 and 5 year olds to pick fruit without any help — tons of fruits still on the trees — an easy walk, lots of parking, clean bathroom — TOTALLY worth the trip. The apples and pears were delicious and worth every penny — plus we have gorgeous photos! Will definitely be coming back every year!
Get there early, if you can. We got there just after they opened and it go pretty full and pretty hot very soon. By the time we had left, just before noon, the parking lot was full and it was packed everywhere else too.

This was our first time apple picking in Julian, and Apple Starr didn’t disappoint! Make sure you print out a map before driving out here as there is not much GPS signal. There are several other orchards on Julian Orchard Lane, but go all the way to the end for Apple Starr, it’s worth it! $ 25/​bag of about 10 – 12 lbs of certified organic apples and/​or pears. $ 15 for a second bag. They encourage you to taste as many as you want as you pick w/​no extra charge! Awesome. We ended up picking more pears than apples, as they were bigger and sweeter at the time. The trees aren’t that tall, so it’s perfect for kids (and vertically challenged adults like me). Get there early in the day on the weekends as parking can get tricky. Just a note for families with little ones: there’s only one bathroom in the barn, and you could spend half your time waiting in line for it, so plan ahead :) There are a few picnic tables available, so you can pack a lunch. After filling our bag to the max, we ventured back to downtown Julian for some Mom’s apple pie to finish off our day. This was definitely worth the drive!

DONT trust your GPS! It will send you on a wild turkey infested trip on a dirt road, LOL Head to the Winery right down the road from the main drag in Historic Old Julian and make a left and you will find Apple Starr at the end of the road. Its a wonderful orchard with old trees loaded with fruit. Not just apples but beautiful organic pears! Everyone was friendly and we saw many young families picnicking with their kids under the trees near the barn. Saturdays can be busy, especially if there is an event at the winery, but go with a relaxed attitude and enjoy the nature! Bring a camera for photo ops, very pretty scenery.
A Tip: Right before you enter the Apple Starr location there may be a couple ladies with a small table by their own smaller orchard. STOP HERE as well!!! Ask if they have any of the «secret stash» MACINTOSH apples, LOL ! You cant hand pick these, but when available were some of the BEST apples we ate, they also had organic Champagne grapes.

This orchard really is as good as it gets in San Diego County. We’ve tried most of the U-​Pick orchards in Julian and the apples have always been small and had holes in them (they claim because they’re organic) however, this orchard is certified organic and I really didn’t see a lot of holes in their crop! The apples were big and they also had a lot of pear trees and the pears were huge! The owners were really friendly. They also have those sticks that can grab apples/​pears toward the top of the trees for you to use which is really handy. I will be back here year after year! Quick note, this orchard is on the same road as other orchards. I feel like the first orchard (volcan valley apple farm) on this road tries to trick people into thinking they’re the only orchard and they get most of the business (junky apples though) but if you keep driving you will see other orchards and Apple Starr is the last one at the end of the road. Don’t be tricked into that first orchard!
Love love love this one. The pears are divine. Oh, for apples they have gala, jonagold, fuji and granny smith. I might be missing one but it’s a great variety. 2 kinds of pears.

I don’t usually write reviews but this is the best orchard we’ve been to in 4 years. The owners were very nice and friendly. They informed us where to go for the best apples and told my son to borrow a wagon for apple/​pear picking. These are by far the best tasting apples in Julian! Probably because they are organic. Spend the extra money for these apples! And then hit up the Menghi Winery on the way out.