Evaluation of New Apple Varieties, 1998 

 Observations: A Report to the New 

 England Tree Fruit Growers Research 

 Committee 



Duane W. Greene 



Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



During the growing season I evaluated about 1 25 

 named varieties and numbered selections. Below are 

 my observations on the performance of many of these 

 in 1998. 



Arlet 



I continue to be on the fence with this apple. It has 

 good, but not outstanding flavor. It does not suffer 

 from biennial bearing, and fruit size is good. It russets 

 here, up to 25% of the surface, it drops and it does 

 become greasy. A drop control compound is 

 appropriate with Arlet. I am cooperating with Sarah 

 Weis on storage of Arlet this year to get a better 

 assessment of its postharvest life. 



Autumn Gold 



This is my first year with this cultivar and I had j ust 

 a couple of fruit. I believe that I harvested it too late, 

 October 19. It is a medium to large apple with some 

 russet and is not too attractive. The ones I tasted were 

 neither crisp nor juicy but I believe that they were 

 overmature. There were longitudinal cracks in the 

 pedicel end, throwing up a red flag. Flavor was of 

 bananas, fruity and very pleasant. It had a good sugar 

 to acid ratio. I rated the flavor very high, even with the 

 faults. 



AA 62 (Stellar) 



I continue to favor this attractive lemon yellow 

 apple. It is extremely attractive and has a large L/D 

 ratio (over 1 .05) even here. It has no russet but it is 



exfremely susceptible to apple scab. Flesh is crisp, 

 juicy, fruity, and very good. One thing that I did note 

 this year is that at harvest it had an ethanol (aldehyde) 

 taste that detracted from the flavor. It did have some 

 moldy core this year. I have noted this in other apples 

 in the past including HoneyCrisp. I will continue to 

 look at this one. 



AA122 



This is the first year of evaluation of this oblate 

 deep yellow apple. It has white inconspicuous 

 lenticels and yellow flesh. The flavor was OK, being 

 slightly sweet with a bitter after taste. It was rated in 

 the middle of the pack. If it does not have outstanding 

 flavor or crispness, the evaluation time of this apple 

 will be short. 



Braeburn 



It IS a somewhat unlikely candidate to be grown in 

 New England because of late maturity. It blooms 

 profusely and set can be excessive if not thinned very 

 well. I have used three applications of 6 ppm NAA 

 with or without carbaryl on Braeburn with success. 

 Fruit size is good and color is acceptable. It is not very 

 good at harvest but after a period of cold storage it does 

 taste very good. It has good postharvest life. I do 

 recommend planting this apple in New England. 



Cameo*** 



I consider this to be one of the best new cultivars. 

 It ripens in mid-October here. It has good L/D ratio 



Fruit Notes, Volume 67, Spring, 2002 



13 



