{"id":13554,"date":"2026-08-26T08:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/highmoor\/?p=13554"},"modified":"2026-08-26T08:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:17:11","slug":"tree-fruit-newsletter-august-25-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/highmoor\/2026\/08\/26\/tree-fruit-newsletter-august-25-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Tree Fruit Newsletter &#8212; August 25, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this newsletter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Maturity Report<\/li>\n<li>Soil Moisture Readings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Maturity Report<\/h3>\n<h4>Peaches<\/h4>\n<p>This week, we are picking this week:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>TangOs<\/li>\n<li>PF 15A, 2nd harvest<\/li>\n<li>Raritan Rose, a white flesh peach. It was over-ripe by the time I remembered to pick it.<\/li>\n<li>Starfire, a traditional yellow peach<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Varieties in our collection that should be next are Blazingstar and PF17.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest problem has been premature fruit drop from the prolonged dry spell.<\/p>\n<p>Brown rot has been showing up only in the donut peaches which are prone to skin cracking. Stink bugs were present in the orchard today, but I have not seen damage in the fruit yet.<\/p>\n<h4>Apples<\/h4>\n<p>Paulared and Zestar! were harvested this week. Starch index for Zestar! indicates that sugars have developed and that they are ready for picking and eating. Zestar! does not keep well in prolonged cold storage (&gt;1 month).<\/p>\n<div>\n<table style=\"width: 100%\" border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"2\">\n<caption>\n<h4><strong>Starch Index and Delta Absorbance (DA) at University of Maine&#8217;s Highmoor Farm.<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/caption>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"text-align: left\">Variety<\/th>\n<th>Starch Index 8\/19\/25<\/th>\n<th>Delta Absorbance* (I<sub>AD<\/sub>) 8\/19\/25<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Zestar!<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center\">2.9<\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center\">1.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\">* I<sub>AD<\/sub> is a measure of chlorophyll breakdown in the peel which parallels ripening. Numbers decrease as fruits ripen. Standards for Zestar! have not yet been established.<\/p>\n<p>The following is a rough guide to what the starch index numbers mean for apple ripening:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><strong>1 \u2013 2<\/strong>: indicates lack of starch breakdown and generally unripe.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><strong>3<\/strong>: partially ripe, but prone to disorders in long-term storage.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><strong>4<\/strong>: typically ready to pick for long-term storage.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><strong>5 \u2013 6<\/strong>: indicates good flavor and ready for general harvest or harvest for short-term storage.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><strong>7 \u2013 8<\/strong>: indicates fully ripe, too ripe for long-term storage.<\/p>\n<h3>Soil Moisture Readings<\/h3>\n<p>Soil moisture readings from 4 tensiometers at Highmoor Farm indicate very dry conditions. Soil moisture tension ranged from -68 cbars in good soil to -90 cbars in more sandy soil. I usually begin to irrigate when readings drop below -60 cbars.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Renae Moran<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/fruit\/\">University of Maine Cooperative Extension: Tree Fruits<\/a><\/p>\n<p>PO Box 179<\/p>\n<p>Monmouth, ME 04259<\/p>\n<p>(207) 933-2100<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:rmoran@maine.edu\">rmoran@maine.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Mention of a trademark, proprietary product, or vendor does not constitute a guarantee or warranty of the product, nor does it imply approval or disapproval to the exclusion of other products or vendors that may also be suitable.<\/p>\n<p>University of Maine Cooperative Extension is an equal opportunity institution and provider committed to nondiscrimination. For more information, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/nondiscrimination\/\">extension.umaine.edu\/nondiscrimination<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this newsletter: Maturity Report Soil Moisture Readings Maturity Report Peaches This week, we are picking this week: TangOs PF 15A, 2nd harvest Raritan Rose, a white flesh peach. It was over-ripe by the time I remembered to pick it. Starfire, a traditional yellow peach Varieties in our collection that should be next are Blazingstar [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tree-fruit-newsletter"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tree Fruit Newsletter - August 25, 2026 - Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm - University of Maine Cooperative Extension<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/extension.umaine.edu\/highmoor\/2026\/08\/26\/tree-fruit-newsletter-august-25-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tree Fruit Newsletter - August 25, 2026 - Cooperative Extension at Highmoor Farm - University of Maine Cooperative Extension\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this newsletter: Maturity Report Soil Moisture Readings Maturity Report Peaches This week, we are picking this week: TangOs PF 15A, 2nd harvest Raritan Rose, a white flesh peach. 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