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[tanis <tanistanis@hotmail.com>]

I'm betting on ethylene being more the problem than dryness.  Here's my 
observation:

This autumn I had apples from the later trees. These have tended to be the 
better keepers, so I put apples (mostly seconds) in plastic grocery bags, 
generally without tying or sealing.  Unless bags got stacked on others, but I 
was frequently inspecting & using.  Storage is in a cool area in a wood-stove 
heated house, without added humidity during most of the storage time.  Apples 
tended to rot from blemishes-- I could not stay ahead of this, with limited 
time for processing-- but not much mealiness.  My remaining 2 kinds are a 
late ripening russet which is only recently going a little wrinkly/mushy, and 
the Lowville apple which has never kept this well before.

The Lowvilles are from the tree on Bud.118 rootstock, the later part of the 
harvest which held on thru much of Oct.  Never seen this before.  Neither the 
texture nor the flavor are as crisp as right off the tree, but they are 
useable and almost as pretty as new. 

The Bud.118 tree leaned badly with the crop, and may be a loss.  If you use 
Bud.118, give it strong supports.

tc, s.WI, worried about my nursery M7s & young EMLA7 trees in this 
old-fashioned long winter & deep frost.