A little ways northeast of you, we had drought most of summer. Until the
mid-season apples were sizing up, then 3" rain in one week. Apples
increased in size by 1/3 in a very short time, and any brittle spot on the
skins of most apple culitvars split (some more, some less.) Many apple
cultivars have a russet or corky patch in the stem dimple; I've been told
this is from spider-mite feeding. These spot of brittle skin would split in
above conditions.
----Original Message Follows----
From: "loneroc" <>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] stem splitting on apple
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 06:39:33 -0500
Anyone know what the cause of a little cross shaped split where the stem
enters the apple. Almost all my MN 447s had that goin' on. I didn't get
enough other apple to know if it would have been a widespread problem.