ripening of early and midseason varieties to be stimulated by sprays of 2, 4, 
5- TP, NAA, or 2, 4) Om TAG 
Hoffman and Edgerton (33) reported no measurable difference in ripening 
in McIntosh apples sprayed with 2, 4, 5-TP or NAA when the two substances were 
applied on the same date. They also found no significant difference in firm- 
ness between treated and untreated fruit. 
Efforts to reduce the ripening effects of stop drop materials by using 
maleic hydrazide sprays have met with partial success (49, 50, 52, 53). 
Crandall (12) found that preharvest sprays of maleic hydrazide had no signifi- 
cant effect on firmness of Delicious apples after 3 months" storage. 
White and Rice (70) and White (71) reported that preharvest chemical 
sprays to promote red color development did not have a measurable effect on 
firmness of apples at harvest or after storage. 
The effects of fungicide and insecticide sprays on quality and storage 
life of apples has been the subject of relatively little research (18, 24, 52). 
Neither 2,4-D no Parathion were found to impair the dessert quality or storage 
life of apples by Gerhardt and O'Neill (24). Smock and Palmiter (52) found Crag 
and sulfur sprays advanced maturity more than other fungicides, but they also 
found the type of fungicide had little effect on ripening in some years. 
Red Sports 
A comparison of the storage life of several standard apple varieties 
with that of their red bud sports was made by Clarke in 1949-50 (11). He found 
in four of five cases that the standard varieties kept better in storage than 
their red bud sports. Padfield (46) has also stated that the majority of bud 
sports and highly colored strains of well-known varieties reportedly do not keep 
as well as the standard varieties, Schomer (47a), however, found no differences 
in maturity or storage behavior bctwceen apples of three new red bud sports and 
standard Delicious or Starking. 
Climate 
Climate has been shown by several investigators to affect the keeping 
quality of apples. Smock (51) found in McIntosh a fair though not significant 
positive correlation between fruit firmness at harvest and solar radiation 
during the last 6 weeks of the growing season. He also observed scald suscepti- 
bility in McIntosh and Rhode Island Greenings was associated with high mean 
temperatures during the last 6 weeks of the growing season. The effect of tem- 
peratures in the field on scald susceptibility was studied in considerably 
greater detail by Merritt, et al. (40). These investigators found that when 
approximately 150 hours below 50° F. had accumulated (following the onset of 
consistently cool weather as the harvest period approached) most. fruits were 
free of scald on removal from storage. 
In a study of the storage quality of Golden Delicious injured by early 
season frosts Lott (37) found fruit so injured as to develop russet bands kept 
as well in storage as nonrusseted fruit. 
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