General comments on 09/07/09 apple maturity: Gala maturity still lags, however, a cursory inspection of some Brookfield and Buckeye Gala fruit in Belchertown this morning (09/08) showed some good background color change from green to yellow. Those fruit will be harvested later this week. McIntosh are just starting to get 'good' and I expect rapid development of maturity now. Honeycrisp still need more time to develop varietal flavor, and fruit are holding on the tree nicely. Color development is creeping along.
| Cultivar | date | Location | pre-harvest drop |
fruit diameter inches |
color % red |
firmness lbs |
soluble solids |
comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckeye Gala | 9/7/2009 | Brookfield | none |
2.9 |
95 |
21.8 |
19.7 |
3 (1-4) |
need another week |
| Gale Gala | 9/7/2009 | Brookfield | none |
2.9 |
95 |
20.8 |
10.3 |
3 (1-4) |
ditto |
| Redmax McIntosh | 9/7/2009 | Brookfield | few |
3.2 |
70 |
17 |
11.4 |
4 (3-5) |
a tart McIntosh right now, need another week really |
| Honeycrisp | 9/7/2009 | Brookfield | few |
3.2 |
40 |
16.1 |
11 |
4.4 (2-7) |
could use another week, sugars not there, but they are acceptable right now |
| Lindamac McIntosh | 9/7/2009 | Belchertown | nil |
3.2 |
90+ |
15 |
11.8 |
4.4 |
picked 20 bushels off 30 M.9 trees |
| Honeycrisp | 9/7/2009 | Belchertown | few |
3.3 |
70 |
17.9 |
12.1 |
3.2 (2-4) |
B.118 rootstock, good color, but need a bit to pick |
| Rubymac | 9/7/2009 | Belchertown | some |
2.9 |
99 |
16.3 |
11.3 |
5.6 (4(-8) |
2nd leaf trees, first look; definitely red color |
