For 26 years, researchers at the Alson H. Smith, Jr. AREC have recorded Golden Delicious and Red Delicious apple maturity data from orchards based in and around Winchester. Data for Empire has been taken for ten years and for Gala for five years. In recent years, we have added other commercially important cultivars to the analyses in order to generate long term averages. These data provide an interesting insight into the current season’s harvest, and can help growers make decisions on when to pick different blocks.

Earlier this season, I discussed the potential for a very early harvest. Based on a model developed at Michigan State University, the first Red Delicious harvest was estimated to be August 27 in Winchester and August 25  in Central Virginia (see post from June 28). While extraordinarily early, this prediction may be fairly accurate. Red Delicious Brix are already at 11.9 (two brix units greater than the long-term average) and firmness is down to 18.2. I have already heard of Reds being picked in Central Virginia, but not yet in the Winchester area.

Another one of my concerns with this early season was the potential for there to be poor color development. This has not come to fruition, and in fact, on Red Delicious, Gala, and Empire red color is the highest it has ever been at this time of year. The cool nights predicted for the next 10 days, should further enhance color development.

Below are the data from this year’s end of August apple maturity sampling. In each year, the samples were taken around August 25 and consist of apples from the AREC and a few local growers. Thanks to Dave Carbaugh, Mark Sutphin, Rachel Marple, and Nick Leaverton for helping to collect and process the fruit. Please refer to my post from yesterday if you need help interpreting the different maturity indices. You can also download a pdf  of this data.