Delicious harvested October 1, 1988 developed 

 12% scald, while ones harvested on October 3, 

 1990 developed 69% scald,even though the 1990 

 fruit were somewhat more mature than those in 

 1988. 



In a second experiment, Cortland apples 

 were sprayed in August with ethephon to induce 

 ripening before they had experienced substan- 

 tial amounts of preharvest cool temperatures. 

 In 1989, only 500 ppm ethephon was applied, 

 but in 1990 both 250 and 500 ppm were used. 

 Both concentrations caused fruit to ripen in 

 early September. In 1989, some hours below 



50°F were recorded before the harvests, but in 

 1990 none had occurred, so any effect of treat- 

 ment on scald in 1990 should have been due 

 entirely to more advanced maturity. In both 

 years, ethephon treatment significantly re- 

 duced scald after storage (Table 2); however, 

 differences usually were small. In particular, in 

 1990 when fruit ripened in the absence of any 

 hours below 50°F, all samples developed scald 

 on more than 90% of the fruit. Ethephon sprays 

 have been reported to reduce scald on Granny 

 Smith and Delicious in several parts of the 

 world, but clearly under our conditions, ethep- 



Fruit Notes, Summer, 1994 



