-14- 



from undamaged fruit. As might be expected, selectively picked 

 apples had a lower incidence o£ culling for color, 15.11 of the 

 culled fruit compared with 29.3-0 for strip picked fruit. Note 

 that this does not necessarily mean that selectively picked 

 orchards had less color-rejected fruit; the pickers simply left 

 it on the trees while strip picked rejects were picked, stored, 

 graded and culled. In order to assess the economics of strip 

 versus selective picking, growers must consider several points 

 including the skill and wage rates of pickers, storage capacity 

 and costs, and skill and wage rates of grader /packers . The 

 grower must consider the cost of picking, storing and grading 

 the additional substandard fruit against the costs of selectively 

 picking. 



By comparing Tables 2 and 3 the reader can note a similarity 

 in cullage rates for most defects other than color and size. 

 (Presumably selective pickers leaves more undersized apples on 

 the trees than do strip pickers.) In nearly every category the 

 selectively picked fruit has slightly fewer culls and correspond- 

 ingly less lost revenue due to defects. 



In the area of physical damage (bruise, stem puncture and 

 mechanical) strip picked fruit had 241 more of total fruit culled 

 than the selectively picked and the additional revenue lost was 

 $57.60 per acre. Strip pickers may hurry a bit m.ore than selective 

 pickers and may thus do more physical damage. Although most growers 

 feel they can effectively control their pickers, they may need 

 to monitor them closer to reduce damage. 



The similarities between strip and selectively picked fruit 

 damage for other categories including insect and disease damage, 

 russeting and "other" (misshapen, bitter pit, sun scald, hail, 

 rodent and refrigeration damage) are as expected since these defects 

 are not affected by picking and handling procedures. 



Conclusion 



We feel that growers have the potential to increase packout 

 rates, and thus net revenue, by carefully evaluating causes of 

 defects, determining which defects may be reduced and taking the 

 necessary action at the proper time to insure that less defective 

 fruit is picked, stored, and graded. After color and size, both 

 of which are difficult for the grower to control, physical damage 

 is the most often occurring and most expensive defect. Close 

 scrutiny of picking, handling and grading operations and an under- 

 standing of the additional costs of handling and storing defective 

 fruit may enable growers to increase returns by raising their 

 packout rates. 



