Yearly, the Washington apple trade learns extra about WA 38, the apple marketed as Cosmic Crisp.
Because the apple enters its sixth harvest, researchers with Washington State College and the Washington Tree Fruit Analysis Fee proceed to fine-tune their suggestions for harvest and storage.
The important thing harvest standards — counting on the cultivar-specific starch scale ranking between 2 and three.5 and a breaking background colour — haven’t modified. However as many orchards enter extra mature manufacturing patterns, researchers say they see high quality variations between younger orchards and bushes over 4 years outdated.
The not too long ago printed suggestions for 2024 element these variations and warning that in younger orchards, fruit maturity could also be inconsistent, greasiness can develop in storage, and fruit from these orchards ought to be bought in January and February. Mature orchards appear to outgrow these considerations, creating fruit with constant maturity that may be picked in a single move.
WSU postharvest physiologist Carolina Torres and analysis fee director Ines Hanrahan ready the up to date suggestions.
The transport date for this 12 months’s crop is ready at Nov. 25. That’s as a result of WA 38 takes about six weeks, on common, in storage to succeed in its starch clearance targets for optimum taste. The advice is to market fruit from mature orchards within the first a part of the season, because it matures extra persistently.
The doc additionally particulars storage and dealing with suggestions. It may be discovered on-line at: treefruit.wsu.edu/article/recommended-harvest-criteria-for-commercial-wa-38-storage-in-2024.
—by Kate Prengaman
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