Cosmic Crisp 2019 Debut Pt 3
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. The launch of the most anticipated apple ever is almost here with the Cosmic Crisp expected on store shelves by December 1st.
Besides in your local produce section, Proprietary Variety Management Marketing Director, Kathryn Grandy is excited to announce the Cosmic Crisp will also be available in pre-sliced packages and as cold-pressed cider ...
GRANDY ... "We're also looking at the secondary market and we have a number of partnerships for fruit that doesn't make the grade and, you know, we're hoping that this will provide growers a lot of opportunity for their lower-grade fruit and hopefully higher returns."
Grandy says the Cosmic Crisp is the total package ...
GRANDY ... "It's the quintessential apple in my opinion. It's beautiful, it's firm and crispy and delicious and it stores well long so, potentially, it's a great export apple. And, we see it as a 12-month apple at retail and we will have the volume to provide those apples year-round."
And, she says, the anticipation is growing ...
GRANDY ... "I think customers, you know, for the last two years we've had numerous visitors to our website and phone calls, you know, when can we get the apple and where can we get it, and uhhgg, we have to wait two years. So, we're continuing to get those."
Nearly 500,000 40-pound boxes of Cosmic Crisp are expected this year, but that number jumps to 2-million in 2020 and 5.6-million in 2021.
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BL: Welcome back to another "Fruit Bites" brought to you by Valent U.S.A. Joining us as always is Valent's Allison Walston. And this week Allison, tell me how can you make sure you have return bloom next year?
AW: Fruit set, thinning, alternate bearing, crop load and return bloom are all points in time when an orchardist is worried about their apple crop. Too much fruit this year can lead to poor return bloom next year. Soooo, in come the plant growth regulators again.
BL: We've talked about PGRs before, but they can help bloom for next year?
AW: Yes, there is a bit of a window between June drop and July when the fruit no longer responds to thinning agents and before the fruit responds to ripening agents...that's when you apply PGRs, like NAA, to set fruit buds for next year.
BL: Wow, small window and complicated.
AW: Plus you shouldn't spray NAA when daytime temperatures are over 85 degrees. So hopefully our temperatures drop a bit.
BL: Well, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for more Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I'm Bob Larson.
https://extension.psu.edu/apple-pgrs-promoting-return-bloom
