-9- 



In 1983, the trees for the first time bore sufficient fruit for some evaluations. On 

 three dates. ..September 1, 7, and 14. ..fruit on trees of all seven Mcintosh strains were 

 visually evaluated for red color. It should be recealled that August and early September 

 were very hot in 1983, and that red coloration was very slow. On both September 1 

 and 7, two-thirds of the Marshall Mcintosh had at least 5096 of their surface colored 

 red. This was far superior to the coloring on any of the other strains. By 

 mid-September, 84% of the Marshall were well colored, and only one other strain had 

 close to that amount of color. Thus, even under growing conditions unfavorable to 

 red color development, Marshall Mcintosh developed color earlier than other strains. 



On September 7 and 14, samples of fruit were picked from these trees and measured 

 for firmness and for starch disappearance. At the first picking Marshall Mcintosh 

 were neither firmer nor softer than those of any other strain. At the second picking 

 they were firmer than Macspur, Eastman, and Gatzke Mcintosh, none of which was 

 as red as Marshall. At neither picking did Marshall have either more or less starch 

 than any other strain. 



These results must be evaluated with great care as they represent fruit from young 

 trees, with the fruit varying in size but tending to be unusually large. It will not be 

 until the trees are bearing consistent and representative crops that reliable conclusions 

 can be drawn, but the indications in 1983 were consistent with earlier observations: 

 Marshall Mcintosh appear to color early, but not to mature early. 



Table 1. Influence of Mcintosh strain on red color of fruit and fruit maturity, 1983. 



Strain 



Percentage of fruit with 

 sufficient color for 

 Extra Fancy grade^ 



""971 Wt 97TT 



Fruit 



Firmness 

 (lbs) 



9/9 



9/17 



Maturity 

 (l-9)y 



9/9 



9/17 



Morspur 



Marshall 



Imperial 



Macspur 



Eastman 



Gatzke 



Rogers 



1 5 . Sab 



1 5 . Sab 



15.3ab 



14.7b 



14.8b 



15.3ab 



16.0a 



14. Sab 

 14.9a 

 14.4abc 

 13. Bed 

 13. 6d 



1.40bcd 

 14.5abc 



1.9ab 



1.9ab 



1.7ab 



1.9a 



1.36b 



1.8ab 



1.5ab 



2.5a 

 2.8a 

 2.7a 

 2.6a 

 2.8a 

 2.3a 

 2.3a 



^At least 50% of fruit surface with red color typical of the variety, 

 y Based on Starch-Iodine test: 1-im mature; 9-overmature 



