We obtained our first fruit in 1990. Obviously, we 

 cannot make a lot of conclusions from this early 

 fruiting; however, Acey Mac clearly is not a 

 Mcintosh. Its appearance is similar to Spartan, 

 and it ripens approximately at the same time as 

 Spartan. Flavor seems distinguishable from both 

 Mcintosh and Spartan. Acey Mac could provide a 

 desirable expansion of the harvest; however, it is 

 not similar enough to Mcintosh to be used in this 

 scheme. 



Pioneer Mac 



Pioneer Mac was discovered as an open polli- 

 nated seedling of Mcintosh at Ernest Greiner's farm 

 in Marlboro, NY. Trees of Pioneer Mac are available 

 from Adams County Nurseries (Aspers, PA). Early 

 reports suggested that fruit are very similar to 

 Mcintosh and that they ripen about 10 days later. 



Pioneer Mac trees were planted at the Horticul- 

 tural Research Center in 1988. We harvested our 

 first fruit in 1990. Although relatively small num- 

 bers of fruit were available, it was clear that this 

 cultivar could be sold as a Mcintosh. Fruit appear- 

 ance and quality were virtually indistinguish- 

 able from Mcintosh. These trees were too young 

 in 1990 to provide an accurate assessment of fruit 



ripening; however, fruit appeared to ripen at a 

 similar time to Rogers Red Mcintosh and signifi- 

 cantly later than Marshall Mcintosh. These data 

 confirm the current information from Adams 

 County Nurseries, suggesting that Pioneer Mac 

 ripens in the standard Mcintosh ripening period and 

 not 10 days later. The potential advantage of Pio- 

 neer Mac, however, is its reduced level of preharvest 

 drop. Dr. Chick Forshey has shown that Pioneer 

 Mac displays significantly lower levels of drop than 

 Rogers. It will be a number of years before we can 

 confirm this result adequately. 



In conclusion, orchardists must consider many 

 short- and long-term management changes to grow 

 Mcintosh successfully without Alar. A blend of 

 Mcintosh strains which provide a clear expansion of 

 the harvest season is one way to reduce the need for 

 Alar. Early-season expansion is provided by 

 Marshall Mcintosh and Redmax. For late-season 

 expansion, Acey Mac will not be useful, because it is 

 not a Mcintosh substitute. Pioneer Mac, however, 

 still shows potential if additional studies confirm 

 results showing that it does not drop as readily as 

 Mcintosh. 



Fruit Notes, Spring, 1991 



