Fruit Bites May 26-28 Bitter Pit

Fruit Bites May 26-28 Bitter Pit

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
BL: Welcome back to another “Fruit Bites” brought to you by Valent U.S.A. With us as always is Valent’s Allison Walston. And this week Allison, let’s talk about bitter pit in apples!

AW: Have you ever been picking out Honeycrisp apples, only to find some small, dark spots on the fruit? Those are symptoms of an apple disorder called bitter pit. And it is a calcium deficiency in the fruit.

BL: How do apples get this bitter pit disorder?

AW: It can be increased by over-stressing the trees: hot, dry weather, winter injury to the trunk or if the apples are growing too big by overthinning and in alternate-bearing lighter crop years. It can sometimes be confused with stink bug feeding since bitter pit also leaves corky, brown flesh areas under the spot.

BL: why isn’t bitter pit culled at harvest?

AW: when it appears while the apples are still on the tree, those can be culled out, but most of the damaged fruit shows up after they’ve been put in boxes and a couple of months in cold storage.

BL: Well, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I’m Bob Larson.

https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/apple-malus-spp-bitter-pit

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