From what I understand, there are two types of fruit cracking,both of which
are genetic. We have had an issue with it in Gala is the past.
"Physiological Cracking" often occurs on Stayman and other varieties when a
high percentage of fruit may split or crack, starting in July. This type of
cracking is usually related to the water status in the tree and fruit, but
there seems to be no way to suppress cracking to acceptable levels. We took
our Stayman out for this reason and replaced with Honeycrisp.
"Maturity Cracking" develops on varieties such as 'Golden Delicious'
cultivars and 'Gala', often at the stem end, as the apples become mature.
This type of cracking can be minimized by harvesting fruit as the first
fruits start to crack and applying foliar calcium sprays, which speaks to
the nutrient deficiency.
Under severe conditions, fruit cracking can also occur with Cork Spot during
the growing season, and is characterized by localized green to brown sunken
spots on the fruit or in the flesh. The spots in the flesh, which may or may
not develop just under the skin, are brown, corky, dead tissue, and are more
prominent toward the calyx half of the apple. The spots in the flesh have a
bitter taste. The corky dead tissue sometimes appears inside the crack if
the disease is severe enough.
Since foliar calcium sprays help with the Cork Spot type disorders and has
almost cured our Gala cracking in the past, I would recommend a regular
foliar spray program for your trees if you don't have one. We typically
apply 3 lbs/acre with every spray we do providing there is no tank mix issue
with a particular chemical. At the beginning of August we double the rate
since we typically do only one spray in August or September. If anyone is
interested I will be happy to forward more details on our calcium spray
program. Hope this helps!
Dennis Norton
Royal Oak Farm Orchard
http://www.royaloakfarmorchard.com
http://www.theorchardkeeper.blogspot.com
http://www.revivalhymn.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "david kollas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Apple-Crop" <apple-crop@virtualorchard.net>
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2007 10:05 AM
Subject: Re: Apple-Crop: Fruit cracking/splitting
Since this fruit-cracking topic appeared, along with the photos, I have
found two 30 year old Empire trees on which a single branch or scaffold
has produced several fruits with symptoms apparently identical to those in
the photos from Maine. On one tree about 4 inches length of the branch
base, where connected to the central leader, was 90% girdled by dead bark,
possibly an infection from a small pruning wound there. In the other
tree, the affected scaffold showed a significant percentage of older
leaves that were small and rolled, some with white chlorosis along central
rib. More recent leaves looked normal. Other scaffolds on the tree were
normal, and only the abnormal scaffold produced cracked fruit. These
observations suggest to me that nutritional
deficiency of some sort may be involved, in these cases, related to poor
movement of water
and/or other nutrients in the vascular system. From now on, if I find more
examples, I will
look for signs of injury, such as winter freezing, drought, disease, or
physical damage to
tissues that carry nutrients to the affected fruit.
Absence of any comment by others of nutrient-stress indicators on Karmijn
may indicate that
we are looking at very different disorders.
David Kollas
Kollas Orchard
Tolland, Connecticu
On Friday, August 3, 2007, at 06:11 AM, Con.Traas wrote:
Richard,
I do get similar cracking on my Karmijn from time to time, but not with
too much severity, so I never went into it too carefully. It is clearly
year-dependant, but why is a more difficult issue. I have not associated
the problem with cold post blossom weather, as we often get that, but
perhaps it is a factor. I think wet summer weather may play a part also.
I do feel that the trees with a lighter set are more prone, as are trees
that don't get a program on GA4+7 for russet reduction. However, the crop
load on trees getting the GA treatment is usually higher than that on
trees which do not get it, so whether it is an indirect or direct effect
of the GA is difficult to guess.
I do also feel that there are some trees that seem more prone
year-on-year than others. Is this clonal variation, or a rootstock
effect, or could there be a contributing latent virus, either in the
rootstock or scion?
As you can see, I am contributing no answers to your question; only more
questions. However, I do think that treating the tree in such a way to
maximise crop load (which is seldom too heavy on Karmijn) reduces the
problem.
By the way, I was intrigued to read that Derry's Karmijn are under cover.
I would love to hear more about this.
Con Traas
The Apple Farm
Ireland
-----Original Message-----
From: apple-crop@virtualorchard.net
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Richard J. Ossolinski
Sent: 27 July 2007 12:36
To: Apple-Crop
Subject: Re: Apple-Crop: Fruit cracking/splitting
Thanks for the response, Derry, though the mystery remains unresolved,
as, FWIW, we had no unusually cold weather here just after bloom. Fun,
though, ain't it?
Richard
On Jul 27, 2007, at 1:33 AM, derry&bill wrote:
Richatrd,
I've had the same cracks in my russeted apples : Golden Russet, St
Edmunds Pippin and Roxbury Russet.
I think this cracking is different from the cracking seen on Cox's
Orange which usually is circular around the calyx and usually appears
later in the season.
I sometimes see the circular cracking in Karmijns and I associate it
with the Cox's Orange parentage.
I spoke to Ed Fackler about this a few years ago. In particular I was
discussing Hudson's Golden Gem another russeted apple.
Ed thought the cracking was associated with cold weather just after
bloom i.e. as the young apple was developing.
I do not have cracking in my Karmijns but my Karmijns are all under
cover so they are somewhat protected from the cold temps after
pollination. My russeted apples are in the open.
Richard, in a separate email, I will attach some jpgs of cracked
russeted apples. I don't have cracks in any other apples.
I noticed the cracks in early July, but I'm sure the cracks were there
from at least early June.
I have temporarily misplaced my pollination chart for 2007, but it was
approximately to the first ten days in May.
Derry Walsh
South Coastal B.C.
http://derrysorchardandnursery.ca
Richard J. Ossolinski wrote:
Anyone have a clue as to what causes this splitting/cracking?
(Thanks to Glen Koehler at UMO for creating this link)
http://pmo.umext.maine.edu/apple/nosearch/cracked-apples-Oz.htm
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<http://www.virtualorchard.net> and managed by Win Cowgill and Jon
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"official" opinions and the Virtual Orchard takes no responsibility for
the content.