The Effect of Thinning on Apple Quality

•         Apple quality includes apple weight, market grade, skin color and soluble solids concentration (sweetness). These qualities can be controlled by the spacing of fruitlets allowed to grow to maturity on a given tree. Historically, thinning has been done by hand. Chemical thinners are now being used which, when sprayed on the blossoms, kill all but the king blossom in each cluster.

•         This experiment involved a comparison (using and comparing two apple cultivars) of apple quality:

•         1) using different hand thinning distances between fruitlets

•         2) using apples from thinned and unthinned trees

•         3) using chemically thinned and hand thinned apples

•         4) using kitchen thinners

The Honeycrisp Apple: A New Valley Variety

•         During controlled atmosphere storage, Honeycrisp apples develop soft scald, a physiological disorder making the apples inedible.

•         This experiment involved two harvests of apples (one on the harvest date and one a week after) from two different orchards. Visual evaluation for soft scald was done on these samples at appropriate monthly intervals for four months. Other test were done at removal were for firmness, percent soluble solids and anthocyanin concentration (red pigment on apple akin determined using methanol extraction and a spectrophotometer).

Valley Apples: Keeping Them Fresh

•         Stored two different varieties for four months in controlled atmosphere (CA) storage and cold storage (0°C) to see which kept apples best for market.

•         Quality measures included weight stability, firmness and soluble solids concentration.

Valley Apples: Sweet and Firm

•         Looked at the effect of harvest time on apple sweetness and firmness.

•         Found that sweetness continued to increase up to and after harvest while firmness decreased as the apples ripen and after storage.

Controlling Weight Loss in Apples During Storage

•         Apples were stored in different containers to determine the effect on weight loss during storage.

•         Containers were baskets and bags that were open, closed or had holes.

The Effect of Temperature on Apple Juice Yield

•         Apples were stored in different places around the house with various temperatures (attic, fridge, room temperature and cold room) to determine the effect of storage temperature on the amount of apple juice yield.

How Much Juice Do Apples Have?

•         Compared the amount of juice that different varieties of apples have.

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