harvest drop control but it is much less effective, more difficult to apply 

 and it increases fruit ripening. Failure to use mid-summer Alar* applica- 

 tions will greatly increase the risk of pre-harvest drop, poorer color, and 

 storage of riper fruit that will be softer and develop more disorders during 

 and after st jrage. 



The alternative to using Alar* is to drastically change the ways in 

 which large plantings of apples are grown, harvested, stored, and marketed, 

 n many ways the Northeastern apple industry is tailored to the use of 

 Uar*. Growers with small plantings of apples may not need to change their 

 :)peration5 significantly, but growers with large acreage will be faced with 

 najor managerial decisions. There is no certainty that Mcintosh can be 

 grown on a large scale for today's market without Alar*. Since Mcintosh 

 account for about two-thirds of the New England apple industry, there is no 

 certainty that the industry could survive without Mcintosh. 



POMOLOGICAL NOTE 



Pruning Highbush Blueberries 



Dominic Marini 

 Regional Fruit and Vegetable Speicalist 

 Plymouth County Extension Office, Hanson, MA 



Recent research in Michigan has revealed that regular, annual, moderate 

 pruning of highbush blueberries results in higher yields than irregular, 

 heavy pruning or no pruning at all. Unpruned bushes were found to be most 

 productive be:tween their 5th and 10th years, so the objective in pruning 

 should be to maintain bushes at the five to ten year level. 



Canes l.irger than 1 1/2 inches in diameter are beyond their prime, 

 unproductive, and should be removed. Up to ^0% of such large canes can be 

 removed without reducing yields, whereas only up to 20^ of medium canes 

 (between O.'* and 0.8 inches in diameter) can be removed without yield reduc- 

 t ion. 



The most productive bushes are those with six to 12 canes, 25^ small 

 canes (less than O.k inches in diameter) and 75% medium canes. Cutting 

 bushes completely to the ground results in all canes of the same age, which 

 is not desirable. Removing only the older canes does not stimulate as many 

 new canes as removing the same number of medium canes. It is not desirable 

 to stimulate too many new canes since this necessitates additional pruning 

 to maintain the optimum number of canes. Too many canes results in leaf 

 shading. Shaded leaves are not efficient and use more food than they pro- 

 duce. 



