5 - 



Table 1. The influence of Alar-85* on flesh firmness of 'Mcintosh' 

 apples at harvest and following storage. 



Alar treatment 

 in mid- July 



1971 



Flesh firmness at 

 harvest 



First 

 pi cki ng 



Second 

 picking 



9/16 



9/23 



Flesh firmness when 

 removed from storage 



First 

 picking 



Second 

 pi cki ng 



Stgred until 12/13 at 



32 F in air 



1-lb/lOO 

 



16.4a' 



15.6b 



15.8a 

 14.9b 



13.5a 

 12.6b 



12.8a 

 12.4a 



1972 



IJ^-lb/lOO 

 



16, 

 15, 



9/13 



7a 

 8b 



9/20 



16.0a 

 15.3b 



Stored 28 weeks in CA 



13 



13. 



8a 

 Ob 



12, 

 12, 



3a 

 Oa 



Means within a column for any year followed 

 are significantly different at the 5% level 



by a different letter 



The data show that growers should not be complacent about har- 

 vest of Mcintosh because the trees have received Alar-85*. If you 

 want to retain the firmness advantage imparted by the Alar-85*, the 

 fruits should be harvested as early as possible. Secondly, when 

 the fruits from non-Alar sprayed trees are unsuitable for CA stor- 

 age, the same probably is true of Alar-sprayed fruits. 



*Trade name 



*************** 



POMOLOGICAL PARAGRAPH 



Soft Mcintosh . R.M. Smock and 6.D. Blanpied, Cornell University, 

 designed an experiment in 1972 to determine if the 'soft Mcintosh' 

 problem encountered by New York and New England apple growers in 

 the spring of 1969,1971, and 1972 might be associated with dry con- 

 ditions during the summer followed by excessive rainfall just prior 

 to harvest. 



They withheld water from some trees for 2 months and then ir- 

 rigated with 2-1/2 inches of water. 'Mcintosh' apples from these 

 trees and check trees were pressure tested for flesh firmness at 

 monthly intervals after harvest. At each test period, the irri- 

 gated apples were softer than the check apples even though they 

 were slightly smaller than the check fruits. 



