•10- 



weather conditions have a very important influence of the development of water 



core, but it is not always clear what the critical climatic factors are and 



what relationship there is betv;een them and the soil moisture and nutrient supply. 



There is no positive control for water core and eventual development of 

 internal breakdo^m of Delicious. However, there are a few things that one 

 can attempt to do to reduce its severity. These seem to be: (1) Try to 

 reduce the tendency to produce oversize fruit. Oversize fruit always has a 

 shorter storage life and is more susceptible to a wide variety of storage 

 troubles than medium sizes. Such fruit is generally softer and, even in the 

 absence of a visible disorder, do not store well. (2) Pick the fruit before 

 it becomes too mature. We recognize that water core may develop in Delicious 

 even when the fruit is not sufficiently ripe for harvest, but there is little 

 doubt that the riper the fruit becomes the more water core it is apt to have. 



It is now obvious that apple storage operators should make more inspec- 

 tions of their fruit throughout the storage season not only to determine the 

 prevalence of internal breakdotm but for scald, bitter pit, brown core and 

 other storage disorders. Regular inspections at regular two-or-three-week 

 intervals, starting at about Thanksgiving time, would help to eliminate 

 serious losses late in the storage period. For example, samples of fruit of 

 a susceptible variety should be taken from storage and placed at room temp- 

 erature for a week, in unsealed poly bags to prevent shriveling to see whether 

 any troubles develop that were not evident in storage. A storage operator 

 who can spot troubles early in the season has some chance of disposing of the 

 fruit before the trouble reaches serious proportions. The person who doesn't 

 keep track of the situation by frequent inspections may eventually have fruit 

 so seriously injured by a storage disorder that much of it is unsalable. 



F. W. Southwick 



I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 



