varieties, regardless of the tjrpe of storage cannot be obtained by merely follow- 

 ing these management practices. 



Franklin W. Southwick 



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A GUIDE TO DETERMINE OPTIMUM HARVEST DATE OF APPLES 



Various guides such as calendar date, ease of separation of fruit from the 

 spur, days from full bloom, flesh firmness, ground color, accumulated heat units, 

 seed color, etc. are used to determine apple maturity with varying degrees of 

 success. Dr. G. D. Blanpied, Cornell University, presented a talk at the New 

 York State Horticultural Society in January, 1960 in which he discussed the var- 

 ious maturity guides and the relative merits of each method. In addition, he 

 presented data in which he plotted the date of full bloom against the days from 

 full bloom to optimum harvest date. (Figure 1). The correlation between these 

 two factors was found to be highly significant. In years of early bloom it takes 

 longer to mature a crop than in years of a late bloom. 



G. D. Blanpied considers this new method of predicting the optimum harvest 

 date for Mcintosh based on the date of full bloom as another tool in determining 

 proper harvest date in order to have Mcintosh hold in good condition in regular 

 refrigerated storages. 



The maturity tool presented in Figure 1 might be used by Massachusetts 

 growers as a guide as to when to plan for harvest of Mcintosh for regular refri- 

 gerated storages. Harvest of Mcintosh apples for CA storage would probably be 

 earlier than the optimum for regular storage which many years means spot-picking 

 for color. In addition, Mcintosh apples for CA should pressure test between 

 15 to 17 pounds. 



No matter what guides are used for predicting or determining apple maturity, 

 there is no replacement for common sense and experience. Some years like 1955 

 and in some areas in 1959, growers had to sacrifice condition for color. The 

 nutritional level can effect such guides as red color, ground color, flesh firm- 

 ness considerably. As G. D. Blanpied stated "I have shown you a new method of 

 predicting the optimum harvest date for Mcintosh based on the date of full bloom. 

 Don't wait too long for red color. If the pressure tester, ground color and all 

 the other guides you know tell you the fruit should be picked, start picking". 



-W. J. Lord 



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