Jon Clements, Author (unless otherwise noted) and Editor
The way I see it and apple maturity report
New England Vegetable & Fruit Conference, December 15-17, 2015, Radisson Hotel - The Center of New Hampshire, Manchester, NH. http://www.newenglandvfc.org
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We are kind of in-between mid-season apples like McIntosh, Gala, Honeycrisp, etc. and late-season apples such as Macoun, Golden Delicious, Cortland, and Empire. (Although I know Cortland and Macoun are being actively picked and marketed.) McIntosh apples destined for any kind of long-term storage should be harvested by the end of this week for sure. After that, it's all for short-term storage or immediate sales. Honeycrisp should be pretty much done now, although Retain-treated Honeycrisp may be ongoing. Cortland and Macoun will get better over the next 7 days. Empire should wait until next week for sure. Pre-harvest fruit drop has generally been mininal, although some significant drop has been noted on Honeycrisp and McIntosh, which is no big surprise.
Generalized target maturity parameters are: % red color, >50%; firmness, >14 lb.; soluble solids, >12; DA, 0.6 to 0.4 for Honeycrisp and Gala, does not work for McIntosh; starch index, 4-6. All apple maturity data from UMass Cold Spring Orchard, Belchertown, MA unless otherwise noted.
Note this will be the last Healthy Fruit for 2015, thanks for subscribing, and we hope it helped you produce a successful tree fruit crop in 2015. Note that updates -- including apple maturity reports -- are always available at http://umassfruit.com
JC
| date | Cultivar | pre-harvest drop | fruit diameter inches | color % red | firmness lbs | soluble solids | DA Index | starch index | comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22-September | Empire | none | 2.9 | 70 | 19.8 | 11.2 | 1.44 | 2.8 | still green, wait another week and test again (do not harvest!) | |
| 22-September | Macoun | some | 3.2 | 75 | 17.1 | 12.4 | 1.5 | 3.9 (2.5-7) | typical Macoun, variable maturity, some loose on tree, large fruit have watercore; pick over next week |  |
| 22-September | Rubinstar Jonagold | nil | 3.45 | 80 | 15.9 | 13.2 | 0.79 | 5.3 (4-7) | ready for first pick based on color development; harvest over next 7-10 days |  |
| 22-September | Golden Glory (DS-165) | none | 3.2 | NA | 17.7 | 13.5 | 1.38 | 4.5 | a nice Golden Delicious type apple, however, not sure if it is available any longer; maybe a little earlier than Golden Delicious, wait another week to pick |  |
| 21-September | Morning Mist Fuji | none | 3.2 | 90 | 13.9 | 12.7 | 0.86 | 6.5 | one of the nicer early Fuji strains, ready to harvest |  |
| 21-September | McIntosh |
some-significant | 3.25 | 75 | 14.8 | 12.2 | 1.62 | 5.6 | ReTain treated, but need to be harvested ASAP, right on schedule |  |
| 18-September | Lindamac McIntosh |
some | 3.1 | 90 | 14.9 | 11.4 | 1.47 | 4.8 (4-6) | ready to pick ASAP, heavy crop, disappointing size |  |
| 18-September | Blondee | none | 3.0 | NA | 17.7 | 10.9 | 0.34 | 4.5 (2-7) | nice, but surface defects easily seen; small if not adequately thinned, and quality (sugar) suffers too; very nice apple if can grow large |  |
| 18-September | Redcort Cortland | none | 3.4 | 85 | 16.5 | 11.5 | 1.61 | 3.2 | being harvested, does not starch test well, still pretty green; economically ripe but could use another week |  |
| 17-September | Honeycrisp | nil | 3.7 | 50 barely | 12.2 | 12.1 | 0.72 | 7.3 | large, on the green side, bitter pit, flavor good though; what happens when you crop 2nd-leaf trees; can probably wait another week (on these at least) to pick unless starts dropping |  |
| 11-September | McIntosh | some | 3.1 | 60 | 15.7 | 11.1 | 1.77 | 4 (3.5-6.5) | ReTain treated |
Nothing to report this week...
Nothing to report this week...
Nothing new to report this week...
No guest article this week...
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Index of Healthy Fruit (2015, 2014)
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New England Apple Decision Support System maps (experimental)
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This is the last Healthy Fruit this year. Thanks for subscribing, and we hope it helped you produce a successful tree fruit crop in 2015. As always feel free to get in touch with any member of the UMass Fruit Team (http://extension.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/team-members) if you have questions or comments.