Maturity levels are running 6-8 days later than normal due to cool, wet weather at the Peninsular Agricultural Research Station (PARS).  We are currently harvesting Royal Cortland and spot picking MacIntosh and Honeycrisp.  There are also some cider apple varieties nearing maturity.

Apple Maturity at PARS for apple collected on September 23, 2019

Variety	Firmness lbs (range)	Starch (range)	Brix	Color %
Blondee	19.2	1.8	10.0	25%
Cortland	16.0	1.4	11.0	60%
Honeycrisp	14.6	5.0	11.7	75%
Liberty	20.5	1.0	8.8	55%
Rotal Cortland	15.4	4.0	12.1	75%

Brix readings are a guide for target sugar levels in fruit.  The higher the better, but from year to year there’s quite a bit of variation.  Light crops will tend to have higher brix levels, and heavy crops will be on the low end.  Honeycrisp are expected to have higher brix.  Brix can be measured with a portable refractometer which is available online.

Brix readings on Honeycrisp & other varieties

Brix Guide	Low	Fair	Good	Excellent
all varieties	< than 11	11	12	13
Honeycrisp	< than 12	12	13	> than 14

Grapes

It’s been really wet everywhere. Grapes are all at E-L 36-37 with intermediate sugar values. I was there early, but didn’t see any insect activity.

	Sept 16		Sept 24
Block 53	Brix	pH	Brix	pH
La Crescent	13.6	2.81	12.2	2.92
Frontenac	13.1	2.81	14.3	2.93
Marquette	15.4	2.75	15.2	2.91
Block 51
Marquette	15.6	2.79	15.4	3.04

These photos of grape cultivars at PARS were taken on September 25, 2019.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This article was posted in Apples, Door County Report, Grapes, Insects and tagged Apples, grape quality, PARS.