Soil properties change during the transition to integrated and organic apple production in a New York orchard

► Under integrated fruit production (IFP) there was effective weed control and improved soil quality ► Organic ground-cover and fertility management were less effective than IFP ► Sampling time influenced bacterial communities more so than the treatments ► Fungal communities in the upper layer of soil were impacted by the treatments ► Minimal treatment differences were found at lower soil measurement depth.