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and emphasis given by Extension and Research personnel in these 

 states. 



The growers from the 3 states virtually agreed on the answer to 

 the question concerning the "ideal" height of apple trees on M7a 

 or MM106. The tree height considered ideal by Connecticut, Maine 

 and Massachusetts growers averaged 12.6, 12.1 and 12.4 respectively. 



Sevin was more frequently used in Maine than in Massachusetts for 

 chemical thinning of Mcintosh, but the reverse was true regarding 

 the use of NAAm. A higher percentage of Massachusetts and Maine 

 growers thinned Delicious than did growers in Connecticut. 



The pre-harvest drop control practices were similar among the 

 growers in the 3 states except that none of the Maine growers used 

 2,4,5-TP for drop control on Delicious. 



Only 16-0 of the Maine growers had used Promalin* within the 

 last 2 years to elongate Delicious in comparison to approximately 

 401 of the Massachusetts and Connecticut growers. 



The fertilizer formulations used varied strikingly among the 

 3 states. An orchard mix (6-0-16 formulation) was used by 84% 

 of the Maine growers and none mentioned the use of calcium nitrate 

 (CaNO,)^. Fifty-six percent of the Massachusetts growers applied 

 a complete fertilizer and 30% of the growers mentioned using CaNO,. 

 Eighty-four percent of the Connecticut growers used a complete 

 fertilizer but only 51 mentioned the use of CaNO,. 



Calcium chloride sprays to improve the calcium level in apple 

 fruits were used by only 11% of the Maine growers and 28% of the 

 Connecticut growers in comparison to 71% of the Massachusetts growers. 



A higher percentage of Maine growers (75%) used ethephon to 

 advance the maturity of early maturing varieties than did growers 

 of Massachusetts (47%). Only 26% of the Connecticut growers used 

 ethephon to advance fruit maturity on early maturing varieties. 

 About 64% of the Maine and Massachusetts growers and 42% of the 

 Connecticut growers used ethephon to advance the maturity of Mcintosh. 



The tree spacing for non-spur Mcintosh apple trees on M7 or M7a 

 used by Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts growers averaged 16.2 

 feet x 23 feet, 15.7 feet x 20.4 feet, and 18 feet x 25.1 feet, res- 

 pectively. Some of the Maine growers indicated that they had planted 

 Mcintosh on M7 too closely with spacings of 9 feet x 14 feet, 10 feet 

 x 16 feet, 12 feet x 18 feet, 10 feet x 18 feet, and so forth. There- 

 fore, the average planting distance used in Maine for Mcintosh on M7 

 was considerably lower than that used in Massachusetts. 



Slightly more growers in Maine (52%) and Connecticut (53%) had 

 trees on M26 rootstock than did Massachusetts growers (40%) . The 

 percentage of growers stating that they were sufficiently satisfied 

 with their trees on M26 and plan more was relatively small (averaging 

 30 to 39% among the states) because of dissatisfaction with tree per- 

 formance, or because the plantings are too young to be adequately 

 evaluated. 



