10 



Table 3. 1979 dates of ethephon application and harvest dates at 

 Atkins Farm. 



Days from 

 Ethephon application 



Cultivar application dates Harvest dates to harvest 



Wealthy August 11^ August 25 14 



Milton August 18^ September 2 15 



Mollie's Delicious August 20^ August 27 7 



Mollie's Delicious August 28^ September 5,6 9,10 



Mcintosh August 23^ September 7 15 



Mcintosh September 5^ September 19 14 



z 

 2/3 pint ethephon plus 20 ppm 2,4,5-TP 



y 



3/4 pint ethephon plus 20 ppm 2,4,5-TP 



Ethephon is applied on Mcintosh blocks scheduled for pick-your- 

 own or for early sales at both the roadside stand and wholesale. 

 Dates of ethephon applications and concentrations on Mcintosh and har- 

 vest dates are shown in Table 3. 



Marshall Farms, Fitchburg . Marshall Farms need about 2,000 bushels 

 of well-colored Mcintosh apples 1 week prior to the normal harvest 

 period of the Rogers and Hermann strains of this cultivar. Fruit 

 from trees of their own strain, the Marshall Mcintosh, should ful- 

 fill this need in the future, but at present it is necessary to apply 

 ethephon on some Rogers and Hermann Mcintosh trees. 



In 1979, the Marshall Farms delayed their ethephon application 

 until September 4 when cool weather replaced the high temperatures 

 of late-August and the first 3 days of September. They applied 1/2 

 pint of ethephon plus 15 ppm 2,4,5-TP per 100 gallons of water with 

 a Hardy air blast sprayer at IX. The Mcintosh trees sprayed were 

 14-years-old on M9 , 12-years-old on M7 , and seedling trees over 50 

 years of age. Alfred Marshall noted that the coloring response to 

 ethephon was best on the young trees, probably because of better 

 light penetration. Harvest of the ethephon treated trees commenced 

 5 days after application. 



Marshall Farms in 1979 successfully stored some ethephon treated 

 Mcintosh in regular storage for 3 to 4 weeks. As a trial they placed 



