Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/769560
www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower JANUARY 15, 2017 11 Finding the best storage strategy W hen it comes to high-mainte- nance Honeycrisp, the devil is in the details. Jim Mattheis, plant physiologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said many warehouse managers are using temperature con- ditioning to prevent chilling injury and MCP or CA to slow ripening, but they all do things their own way. "Most places anymore are putting increasingly more of their fruit into CA because they can't market it fast enough. But how they get it there is not consistent warehouse to ware- house," he said. "Everybody does it, but how they do it isn't the same. They don't use the same atmosphere regime or temperature management strategy. There's lots of iterations." For this study, all the apples were held at 10 degrees C for seven days before being cooled to 3 degrees for storage. The SmartFresh treated apples were exposed to 42 micro- moles per liter of 1-MCP the day they arrived at the warehouse. The controlled atmosphere for the study was set at 3 percent oxygen and 0.5 percent carbon dioxide for two days and then adjusted to 2 percent oxygen and 0.5 percent carbon dioxide. Mattheis said that while the results have so far been positive, including his own tests and what he's heard from warehouses that are using this strategy, he believes more research is still needed to find the optimal storage strategy for Honeycrisp. —K. Prengaman benefits and no negative consequences, was not a surprise to Randy Beaudry, a postharvest researcher at Michigan State University who is also looking at Honeycrisp storage. In his own studies, he recently found no impacts from car- bon dioxide injuries on Honeycrisp held with high CO2 during five days of tem- perature conditioning. (See "Safeguarding Honeycrisp" on Page 12.) "Up until last year, based on a different variety studied in New York, we would have expected doing those treatments at higher temperatures were really delete- rious," but doing them at cold tempera- tures actually resulted in worse outcomes for Honeycrisp in his research, Beaudry said. "Honeycrisp is such a bizarre crea- ture nobody knows what to expect." The USDA research was funded by a $210,000 grant from the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and ongoing support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mattheis will present these findings at the Research Commission's Apple Horticulture and Postharvest Research Review Jan. 25 in Yakima, Washington. • Ambrosia™ Blondee™ Cameo® brand Chrisolyn™ Jonathan Granny Smith Jonastar™ Jonagold Pink Lady® Brand RubyMac® Snowsweet® Spartan Zestar!® Gala: Buckeye® Gala Ultima Gala® Early Fuji: Morning Mist™ Rising Sun® Braeburn: Kumeu Crimson® Mariri Red™ Additional Varieties Cosmic Crisp TM (WA 38 CV) Cosmic Crisp is a cross between Enterprise and Honeycrisp. The large, juicy apple has a remarkably firm and crisp texture. Its exceptional flavor profile provides ample sweetness and tartness, making it an excellent eating apple. Call for availability. USPP #24,210 Lady in Red This high colored Cripps Pink sport begins color formation well over a month before harvest and finishes off with a beautiful, nice, reddish-pink hue. Lady in Red was shown to mature approximately one week earlier than the Cripps Pink cultivar grown in the same location in New Zealand. *Trademark license for Pink Lady® Brand available upon request (Lady in Red is a sport of Cripps Pink) USPP #18,787 Royal Red Honeycrisp ® Discovered in the Columbia Basin of Washington State, this exciting new color sport of Honeycrisp is catching attention from coast to coast. Royal Red Honeycrisp® is a blush type selection and maintains the crisp, juicy texture of its parent that so many consumers have come to love. Beyond the high color factor, initial tests indicate that it's improved storage characteristics may be equally important in improving pack-out. USPP #22,244 Aztec Fuji ® DT2 variety Aztec Fuji ® is a high colored Fuji sport from New Zealand. It has the sweet juicy flavor, crisp texture and harvest maturity of standard Fuji. Aztec is a blush type and observations show it to be one of the highest coloring Fuji sports to date. Aztec Fuji® is a protected trademark of Waimea Variety Management Ltd. Early Robin ® This early Rainier-type cherry matures 7-10 days before standard Rainier. Early Robin ® is mild in flavor and medium to large in size. Early Robin ® requires a pollinizer but Van should not be used. USPP#13,951 Willow Drive Nursery C A L L F O R A V AI L A BI LI T Y Willow Drive Nursery, Inc. Call Toll Free: 1-888-548-7337 3539 Road 5 NW, Ephrata, WA 98823 www.willowdrive.com