5- 



from a high percentage o£ fruits during storage but internal break- 

 down may develop in severely affected fruits. 



In contrast, an earlier 3-year study by the senior author 

 showed that watercore was more severe in Richared than Starking 

 Delicious, Overmaturity is a common problem with Delicious in new 

 England because the fruits are not harvested until Mcintosh and 

 other earlier-maturing cultivars have been picked. Watercore is of 

 annual concern and a reliable index of overmaturity under our con- 

 ditions. Based on watercore development, it appears that strains of 

 Delicious mature at different times but the present study and those 

 of others indicate that maturity differences may be small; however, 

 these differences might be accentuated by local conditions. 



Spur Flowering and Fruiting of Three Strains 



During the 1979-80 and 1980-81 periods the amount of flowering 

 and fruiting on previously fruiting or non-fruiting spurs was 

 determined for Red Prince, Richared and Starkrimson (spur-type) 

 strains of Delicious. The relationship of seed number to subsequent 

 flowering of previously fruiting spurs was studied as well. 



Table 3. Flowering and fruiting of three Delicious strains, 1979-80 



Strains 



% Spurs flowering in 1980 Avg seed number, 1979 fruiting spurs 

 Fruiting Non-fruiting Flowering Non-flowering 

 in 1979 in 1979 in 1980 in 1980 



Red Prince 



Richared 



Starkrimson 



13 



57 



2 



64 

 89 

 60 



4.7 

 4.4 

 3.0 



6.5 

 5.9 

 6.3 



Table 4. Flowering and fruiting of three Delicious strains, 1980-81 



% Spurs flowering in 1981 % 1980 fruiting % 1980 non-fruiting 



Fruiting Non-fruiting spurs spurs 



in 1980 in 1980 fruiting in 1981 fruiting in 1981 



93 

 76 

 78 



4 

 7 

 2 



38 

 29 

 36 



It is apparent (Table 3) that spurs which failed to bear fruit 

 in the previous year are much more apt to flower the following year 

 than those which fruited the year before. The Richared strain was 

 more likely to produce spurs which bear fruit one year and flower 

 the next year than the other t\\?o strains. However, the spur- type 

 Starkrimson strain is clearly inferior in this regard to either Red 

 Prince or Richared. 



