Released August 17, 2010
LOGAN, Utah – The harvest season is fast approaching, and summer apples are ripening. The two most common summer apples include Lodi and Yellow Transparent. They are generally well flavored but must be eaten or processed quickly, as they do not store for more than a few weeks at best. They work especially well for applesauce. Two slightly later ripening summer apples to consider include Zestar and Sansa. Both keep between six and eight weeks.
For autumn-ripening varieties and fruiting pears, coddling moth control is still required into mid-September. There are several strategies for control. Early in the season, apples should have been thinned when they were the size of a small marble or slightly larger. Properly thinned trees have one apple for every six inches of branch.
Coddling moth adults prefer to lay eggs on un-thinned fruit in areas where apples touch. Further, not thinning makes it more difficult to obtain complete coverage of apples with sprays. It is also important to remove leftover fruit from the ground and trees in the fall. This fruit is a breeding ground for diseases and pests. Along with insect control, thinning encourages trees to produce annually instead of biennially. It also reduces branch breakage from excessive fruit loads and minimizes overall tree stress.
--continued on Utah State University Extension news
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