2026 Pennsylvania Tree Fruit Maturity Report - August 3
Introduction
Welcome to Penn State Extension's weekly apple maturity reports. Maturity metrics for key varieties will be tracked across the state throughout the 2026 season.
In this stressful year, with crops decimated by multiple springtime freeze events and hot, dry early summer weather, informed harvest timing recommendations are critical for fruit quality, particularly for apples in mid- to long-term storage. Balancing harvest decisions against sugar accumulation, color development, starch clearing, and firmness drop is difficult to perform in a normal year. These reports serve to provide insight and help inform management decisions.
Out of respect for our collaborators' need to squeeze out as much profit as possible from their available fruit, sampling of varieties may occur a week or more later than in previous years in order to reduce Penn State Extension's impact on their harvest. Please bear this in mind as recommendations this year may require quick action.
Sunburn Observed in Adams County
On June 29th, Dr. Shan Kumar published an article warning of a pending weather event that could produce sunburn in susceptible varieties. His prediction was borne out as sunburn damage has been observed in all strains of Honeycrisp in Adams County.
The pattern of damage is obvious, with damaged fruit visible from several yards distance. Characteristic dimpled regions, often more darkly pigmented compared to the surrounding skin, are easy to spot (Figure 1 and the lede image). When cut open, the flesh underneath is dead, with a brown, corky appearance.
More information on sunburn, the conditions under which it can occur, and recommendations for avoiding it should another heatwave strike Pennsylvania may be found in the article Sunburn Risk This Week in Pennsylvania Orchards: Mitigation Strategies.
Weather Outlook
Southern Pennsylvania closed out one of the hottest and driest Julys on record. Adams County sat under a heat advisory late in the month, the fourth heatwave of the summer, with heat-index values pushing into the low 100s Fahrenheit. Rainfall ran far below normal through most of July before a storm around the 28th finally delivered an inch or more.
For the coming week, we ease back into the low-to-mid 80s and as an active, unsettled thunderstorm pattern moves in, the chance of rain increases for several days with the potential for locally heavy downpours. Growers should be mindful that rain landing on the more advanced varieties raises the risk of cracking, so keep an eye on the blocks closest to picking.
Adams County
Varietal Analysis
Buckeye® Gala: These are running small this week, around 147 g and 2.7 inches, which is no surprise given how dry it has been. Color is coming along nicely at 41.5%. They are still hard at 26.5 lb and the sugars are middling at 9.9 °Bx, but starch is at 3.0 and dropping, so the clock has started ticking on this block. Keep a close eye on it over the next few days, especially with rain coming, because once Gala gets to this stage a good soaking can split them. It is very likely that these fruit should be ready to harvest by next week.
Honeycrisp (Original Strain): The fruit is large at 219 g and 3.2 inches, but there is no rush to harvest. Color is still thin at 14.6% and the background remains fairly green at 2.4. The flesh is firm at 21.5 lb and the sugars have come up well to 11.5 °Bx, but with starch sitting at 2.0 there is barely any conversion yet.
Premier® Honeycrisp: Premier® produced the biggest fruit on the bench this week at 249 g and 3.4 inches. Color is only 7.4% and the background is dead green at 1.5, yet starch is already at 4.8, ahead of both other Honeycrisp samples. That is Premier®: the inside runs well ahead of the outside! Firmness is 20.9 lb with 11.7 °Bx. Do not wait on color with this strain. This block is ready for a first pick now despite the coloration, and a second pick probably towards the end of the week.
Sweet Maia® (MAIA-SM cv.): This was a good-looking sample: 160 g and 2.9 inches with excellent color at 59.5%. It is still firm at 25.4 lb, sugars are up at 11.8 °Bx, and starch at 4.2 indicates that starch conversion is well along. This one is getting close. Splitting is of concern if a heavy rain is predicted while it sits at this stage, same as with the Gala. One thing to remember with the MAIA cultivars is that the flavor really fills in as they ripen. (This one is a 'Honeycrisp' × 'Winecrisp' cross.) If this is going to fresh market, the sweet spot for picking looks like the middle of next week, when the starch conversion has reached 5 or 6 out of 8.
A Note on ReTain® for Honeycrisp
With respect to the data acquired from the original strain of Honeycrisp, ReTain® (AVG/aminoethoxyvinylglycine) is your tool for slowing these blocks down. This product blocks ethylene production, which delays the ripening climacteric, keeps fruit on the tree, cuts preharvest drop, and provides a wider picking window while helping firmness and storability.
For Honeycrisp, the time of that application is now. It is still early, with starch at 2.0 and little conversion, so a half or a third-rate application roughly three weeks ahead of the expected first pick will provide the most delay and the best drop control, while not affecting color development too much. An application while the fruit is still on the front side of ripening will provide full value over the additional expense.
Be aware when spraying: ReTain® needs an organosilicone surfactant to get into the leaf, slow-drying conditions and good coverage to be taken up well, and a rain-free window of several hours after application. Avoid putting it on in the heat of the day when the spray flashes off before it can be absorbed and follow the label rate for the intended delay.
| Date | Mass (g) |
Diameter (in) |
Red Color (%) |
Background (1-5) |
Firmness Average (lb) |
Starch Index (1-8) |
Soluble Solids (°Bx) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gala (Buckeye®) | |||||||
| 8/3 | 147 | 2.69 | 42 | 1.5 | 26.5 | 9.9 | 3.0 |
| Gala (Wildfire™) | |||||||
| 7/27 | 174 | 2.86 | 97 | 1.1 | 21.4 | 12.9 | 5.2 |
| Honeycrisp (Original Strain) | |||||||
| 8/3 | 219 | 3.25 | 15 | 2.4 | 21.5 | 11.5 | 2.0 |
| Honeycrisp (Premier®) | |||||||
| 8/3 | 249 | 3.37 | 7 | 1.5 | 20.9 | 11.7 | 4.8 |
| 7/27 | 226 | 3.20 | 11 | 1.8 | 19.6 | 11.6 | 1.7 |
| Sweet Maia® (MAIA-SM cv.) | |||||||
| 8/3 | 160 | 2.85 | 60 | 2.2 | 25.4 | 11.8 | 4.2 |
Berks County
Honeycrisp was harvested from a light-cropped block, and the fruit shows it. These came in at 121.3 g and 2.1 inches on average. With color at 39.5% and a background of 2.9, color development more advanced than in Adams County. Firmness is holding well at 23.1 lb and the sugars are already up at 12 °Bx, both consistent with a thin crop feeding a full canopy. However, the starch index is low, with each piece of fruit tested evaluating as a 1 on the 1-7 point scale.
Everything here points to a block that will mature ahead of the fuller-cropped Honeycrisp, so keep an eye on it and do not let it get away from you. On low crop load fruit like this, keep an eye out for watercore and softening as it advances, and be ready to sample more often as it closes in on first pick.
| Date | Mass (g) |
Diameter (in) |
Red Color (%) |
Background (1-5) |
Firmness Average (lb) |
Starch Index (1-8) |
Soluble Solids (°Bx) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Honeycrisp | |||||||
| 8/3 | 121 | 2.10 | 40 | 2.9 | 23.1 | 12 | 1 |
Centre County
In Centre County, the Penn State Rock Springs research orchards were especially hard hit by the freeze. Data from Centre County cannot be obtained and reports from Centre County will not be issued in 2026.
Please review the data and discussion for Adams and Berks counties and make decisions based on local observations. While starch indexing with iodine is likely off the table since the compounds used to create a Lugol's solution are restricted, tools for measuring firmness and soluble solid content are readily available, as detailed below.
Resources
To collect data from a local orchard, a few specialized tools are useful to assess non-obvious developmental metrics like firmness and soluble solid content. For fruit mass and diameter, a simple analog scale and forceps will suffice, respectively.
Red coloration is measured by estimating the percentage of skin surface with red pigmentation, while the background color is assessed using the Ground Color for McIntosh Apples chart published in Cornell Extension Bulletin Number 750, Supplement (1948). (When the page loads, click on the "Read item" button, then right-click on the thumbnail to open a full-sized image in a new window or to download it.)
When downloading this chart for field use, have it printed by a reputable print shop that can reproduce colors accurately. The scanner used to create the JPG of this chart appears not to have been well-calibrated. To avoid exacerbating color differences, consider professional reproduction on white cardstock.
Firmness: Penetrometers
Fruit firmness or ripeness testers—generally called "penetrometers" for the way pressure is gauged as a peg encounters resistance when penetrating fruit flesh—can be obtained from a variety of online retailers and from orchard supply houses. The handheld penetrometers used by Penn State Extension for these reports are Mc Cormick FT 327s, but other brands from Wagner or QA Supplies are available. Prices average about $300 per unit, which will be recouped quickly as local sampling will help refine optimal harvest dates.
When purchasing a penetrometer, be sure to choose the correct diameter plunger tip (peg) for the fruit to be tested. For apples and pears, 11 mm or 8 mm tips are commonly used, while for peaches or other soft fruits, 8 mm is recommended.
Soluble Solids: Refractometers
Refractometers are used to assess the abundance of soluble solids (solutes, e.g. sugars) dissolved in a unit of water. For fruit juices, this is typically expressed in Degrees Brix (°Bx), where each degree represents one gram of solute dissolved in 100 grams of pure water. The degrees Brix are estimated by passing a beam of light through the sample and measuring its refraction angle.
Analog and digital refractometers exist. Both can be purchased from retailers specializing in wine-making, cider-making, or other juice-testing supplies, as well as online mass-market sites like Amazon. Both digital and analog refractometers can be obtained for $150-300. Before purchasing, confirm that the device is designed to be used to test fruit juice, and reports values in °Bx. There are other types of refractometers in use for medical purposes and these do not provide suitable data for assessing apple juice quality.
Acknowledgements
Because of low crop set throughout our usual sampling regions, we are indebted to the following orchards for sacrificing fruit each week to make these reports possible:
- In Adams County, Penn State wishes to thank Hollabaugh Bros., Inc., in Biglerville, and Hector Mateos in particular for his assistance.
- In Berks County, Penn State wishes to thank Keim Orchard and Frecon Farms in Boyertown, and Ben Keim and Steve Frecon especially for their collaboration.
Their kindness deserves acknowledgement.
