Preliminary Observations of Redmax 

 in Massachusetts 



Wesley R. Autio, Duane W. Greene, and William J. Lord 



Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



New England is "Mcintosh Country"! We have the 

 environmental conditions which allow us to produce a 

 better Mcintosh than anywhere else in the country. 

 However, Mcintosh growers must consider altering 

 their management practices to cope with the loss of 

 Alar™. Summer pruning, detailed fertility manage- 

 ment, the use of NAA and ethephon, and increased 

 labor can all assist in expanding or altering the harvest 

 season so as to reduce losses from preharvest drop. 

 Likewise, detailed fertility management, accurate 

 maturity assessment, and careful fruit handling will 

 help maintain fruit quality. However, these changes 

 are short-term alternatives which will reduce only 

 some of the losses associated with not using Alar. 

 Growers must undertake appropriate long-term solu- 

 tions to overcome the need for Alar. Using dwarfing 



1.0 



0.6 



o.o 



-0.5 



Log internal ethylene (ppm) 



-1.5 



-2.0 



■2.5 



Rogers 



Marshall 



Redmax 



Figure 1. Internal ethylene concentration of 

 Redmax, Marshall Mcintosh, and Rogers Mcin- 

 tosh fruit harvested on September 7, 1988 and 

 September 26, 1989 from 7 replications planted in 

 1985 in Colrain, MA. 



rootstocks to decrease tree size, enhance fruit coloring, 

 expand ripening, and increase the rate of harvest can 

 help achieve this goal . Additionally, the harvest season 

 can be expanded by planting strains of Mcintosh that 

 differ in time of ripening or coloring. 



As new Mcintosh acreage is planted or present 

 acreage is rejuvenated, growers must plan carefully 

 and establish a mix of strains which will give some 

 advancement as well as some delay of the harvest 

 season. Acey Mac and Pioneer Mac are reported to be 

 later ripening than standard Mcintosh, thus expand- 

 ing the late end of the harvest season. Alternatively, 

 Marshall Mcintosh, which ripens about 1 week earlier 

 than Rogers Mcintosh, allows an earlier beginning of 

 the harvest season. A relatively new strain of Mcin- 

 tosh, Redmax (Hilltop Trees, Hartford, Ml), has been 

 reported to be much earlier coloring than standard 



Fruit Notes, Spring, 1990 



