North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

I've decided to
study<http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg111118576986.html#>frost
tolerance of ripening apples more carefully than in the past. Just
before dawn temps fell to 23.5 F in my orchard this morning. It was just
below freezing at 9:30 the previous evening and was in the 20's for at
least several hours.

None of the apples on the trees, which include Jonagold, Pink Lady,
Goldrush, Newtown, Cameo, Winesap, Fuji and Braeburn appear to have
suffered injury. When I first got up the Pink Ladies were frozen solid but
nearby Goldrush were only cold. Now that fruit is fully thawed it has same
crunchiness as yesterday.

The problem now is that the leaves seem so burned by the frost that I don't
know if they can still manufacture carbohydrate.  I was really hoping to
get the Pink Lady and Goldrush a little more ripe before harvesting the
remaining fruit.

If the quality of any of these apples drops off noticeably in next couple
days I will keep you posted.