Spur Leaf and Flower Characteristics of Apple Cultivars in the 1995 NE-183 Trial

Abstract

Apple spur samples were collected in July 1998 and 1999, or when the king flower was open in 2000 and 2001, and their characteristics were related to yield and fruit size. Spur characteristics of ‘Braeburn’, ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Yataka’ were similar on M.9 and Mark rootstocks. ‘Braeburn’ spurs had very small leaves and total leaf areas compared to most other cultivars. ‘Cameo’ and ‘Fortune’ tended to have large spur leaves in both years. Correlations between yield and fruit size showed no relationship with spur characters across this wide range of cultivars. Number of flowers per spur varied among cultivars and between years, but ‘Rome Beauty’ and ‘Braeburn’ tended to have more flowers and ‘Cameo’ fewer flowers then most other cultivars. ‘Cameo’ tended to have large king flower corolla diameter and long pedicels on both king and lateral flowers. Across these cultivars, pedicel length was positively correlated with fruit size. Pedicel length was positively correlated with spur leaf size and area in both years.