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FIGURE 2: Example of wax results on ungraded fruit of WA 2 when treated on a commercial packing line. Firmness during storage of WA 2 The fruit was grown in Quincy, Washington. Data are in pounds and are for the first pick only. Regular atmosphere storage Regular atmosphere + MCP Controlled atmosphere storage Controlled atmosphere + MCP At harvest 2 months 4 months 8 months 20.3 20.3 20.3 20.3 18.6 19.3 n/a n/a SOURCE: Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission the trees age. The original tree produced several seasons of high-packout fruit until it was removed at over ten years of age. • WA 2 does not show high susceptibility to mildew, sunburn, or bitter pit. Mildew will show on a few terminals in a wet spring with no chemical controls applied. Stem bowl russet is common, and frost-induced russet in and over the stem bowl can occur. Avoid the Orchard of No Return Replant disease can take the profit out of any orchard. Soil fumigation services offered by Trident manage replant disease and other soil-borne pathogens. Trident offers custom applications of Telone® C17, Telone C35, and Pic-Clor 60. • Harvest corresponds to Red Delicious timing. The fruit changes maturity slowly. Dark-colored fruit is sensitive to stem and calyx cracking. Harvest at pink-red color is the best mitigation for cracking. In 2009, an early October freeze induced a significant amount of stem-end splitting. In seasons with a mild fall, up to four harvests could maximize packouts for size and color. Postharvest performance WA 2 is a Red Delicious harvest season variety that has a very long storage and shelf life. It benefits from several picks at harvest and should remain in storage to mature prior to marketing. It stores well and handles a standard packing line well. In 2010, the fruit was color picked at each of four picking dates and drenched to reduce decay. Thereafter, half of each batch was treated with 1-MCP within one week of harvest. The fruit was divided further into two and four months of regular atmosphere storage (at 33°F) and four and eight months of controlled atmosphere storage (1% car- bon dioxide and 2% oxygen at 33°F). Following each storage time, fruit was removed from cold storage and held at room temperature for one week prior to evaluation. We evaluated fruit that was subjected to a standard waxing and packing scenario, with and without presizing. After each run, fruit was placed back into cold storage for two to three weeks, and final evaluations were performed after one week at room temperature to mimic shipping and store display. Performance criteria include the appearance of the wax, number of punctures, and incidence of lenticel breakdown. The postharvest highlights for WA 2 are: Fruit color is an attractive bright red-pink with distinct lenticels. The appearance of • Row and broadcast applications available • Specializing in tree fruit, hops, grape, berry, and nursery crops Telone® II, Telone C-17, and Telone C-35 are registered trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC. Telone II, Telone C-17, Telone C-35, and Pic-Clor 60 are restricted-use pesticides. the variety improves from attractive at harvest to alluring by April. • Fruit has excellent firmness, even after eight months in CA storage (Table 1).Low eth- ylene emission rates impart slow maturity changes at harvest and a long postharvest shelf life. Examples are: —Retained firmness (no more than a 0.5 pound loss in firmness after eight months in CA) —Maximum soluble solids concentration after eight months of storage in CA —Slow titratable acidity loss —Little difference between MCP (1-methylcyclopropene) and non-MCP treated fruit after long-term CA storage • No problems with disorders. • Fruit tends to be starchy with little flavor at harvest. It is seldom well received until it has been stored for three months in regular storage or four months in CA. Soil Fumigation Specialists Serving the Northwest for 26 years orchardfumigation@tridentag.com NORTHWEST, WA: Tim Purcell..........Mobile 360-630-4285 EASTERN WASHINGTON: Robert Rauert....Mobile 509-728-2004 EASTERN WASHINGTON: Jason Rainer.......Mobile 509-731-5424 THE DALLES & HOOD RIVER, OR: David Sbur ..........Mobile 971-563-8848 30 OCTOBER 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER • Fruit is very crisp (more so than Braeburn and Gala). • No issues were apparent when submitted to presizing and/or packing on a commercial packing line. • Fruit is easily cleaned and has a nice shine after waxing (Figure 2) See also "WSU apple breeding program's fruit evaluation system," published in the July 2011, issue of Good Fruit Grower and "Apple selections evaluated for postharvest performance" in the August 2011, issue. • www.goodfruit.com 17.9 19.9 19.5 18.7 n/a n/a 19.8 20.0 washington tree fruit research commission