Update on storing Honeycrisp apples in Michigan

Editor’s note: This article is from the archives of the MSU Crop Advisory Team Alerts. Check the label of any pesticide referenced to ensure your use is included.

Honeycrisp was first planted in 1962 as seed produced from a 1960 cross of Macoun and Honeygold, as part of the University of Minnesota apple breeding program and released in 1991. Despite the fact that the Honeycrisp apple fruit has been grown commercially in the United States for nearly 20 years, its production has only recently been significant enough to warrant the development of storage strategies to hold it beyond three to four months of refrigerated air storage. Significant production acreage can now be found in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and, following recent plantings, Washington.

Although the variety was bred as part of a breeding program to develop winter hardy cultivars, the fruit has proven to be quite sensitive to low temperatures encountered in storage.

Visit: www.apples.msu.edu for more apple information.

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