Michigan Apples
| Apples - Red Delicious |
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| Dormant |  |
No swelling visible |
| Silver Tip |  |
Swollen buds become noticeable and silvery fuzzy leaf tissue begins to emerge from the tip of the bud. |
| Green Tip |  |
Green leaf tissue is visible at the tip of the bud. |
| Quarter Inch Green |  |
A quarter inch of green tissue is visible at the tip of the bud. |
| Half Inch Green |  |
A half inch of green tissue is visible. Leaves start to fold back from the bud. This stage is often called "Mouse Ears". |
| Tight Cluster |  |
The spur leaves have folded back exposing the flower cluster inside the bud. |
| Pink |  |
The flower buds have grown enough to expose the petals of the flowers. |
| Open Cluster |  |
The individual flower buds have separated. |
| King Bloom |  |
The center "King Bloom" has opened. The King bloom has the potential to have the largest fruit. |
| Full Bloom |  |
80% or more of the flowers on the tree or in the orchard are open. |
| Petal Fall |  |
Flower petals are falling from the tree. |
| 8 mm Fruit |  |
The number refers to fruit diameter in millimeters. Six or eight mm is the beginning of the apple thinning window |
| 10 mm Fruit |  |
Apple fruit are easiest to spray thin when they are 10 to 15 mm in diameter. |
| 12 mm Fruit |  |
As the fruit cluster develops size difference between the king and side blooms become more pronounced. |
| 15 mm Fruit |  |
"June drop" describes the fall of smaller fruit from the flower cluster early in development. Spray thinners enhance this natural fruit drop and control the crop. |
| 18 mm Fruit |  |
By the time the fruit are this size they are hard to thin and growers use higher unpredictable rates, in an effort to reduce the crop. |
| 21 mm Fruit |  |
The end of the June drop marks the end of the thinning window. |
| 1.0" Fruit |  |
By the time the fruit is one inch in diameter the final fruit count as been determined. Some growers will thin by hand. |
| 1.25" Fruit |  |
Fruit growth seems to slow down as the fruit enlarges. Actually the amount of growth stays the same but since the fruit is larger the growth seems slower. |
| 1.5" Fruit | ||
| 1.75" Fruit | ||
| 2.0" Fruit |  |
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| 2.25" Fruit | ||
| 2.5" Fruit |  |
These fruit are nearing harvest. Two and a half inches is about the smallest commercial size in fresh market fruit. |
| 2.75" Fruit | ||
| 3.0" Fruit | ||
| 3.25" Fruit | ||
| 3.5" Fruit | ||
| 3.75" Fruit | ||
| Harvest |  |
Final fruit size is a result of the number of fruit on the tree and the growing conditions that year. |
