The influence of rootstock and time of crop load adjustment on ‘Honeycrisp’ apple fruit quality at harvest and after storage was studied over four seasons. Yield per trees varied from year to year because of biennial bearing. Trees on V.1 and G.30 were higher while those on G.969 often had lower yield per tree. Fruit from trees on M.26EMLA and G.30 were larger, while those on G.202 and G.969 were smaller than those on other rootstocks in two of three years. Fruit firmness at harvest and after storge was often inversely proportional to their size, so that fruits from trees on G. 202 often had higher but those on G.30 often had lower firmness at harvest and after storage. Percentages of fruit bitter pit among rootstocks at harvest was different than those after storage. However, fruit from trees on M.26EMLA, V.1, and G.30 generally had higher bitter pit than those on G.969 and G.202 rootstocks. Fruit fresh weight continually grew during growing season. However, the increase in percentage fruit dry weight reached a plateau on August 9, after which it leveled off. Trees receiving an “Early Heavy Thinning” and “Thinned Early to 1 Fruit/bunch” had lower yield but larger fruit with more bitter pit than Un-thinned-Control trees. Trees receiving a thinning on June 11 and June 25 had similar fruit size in the same season. However, bitter pit was increased, while fruit size decreased, as the hand thinning was delayed until July 8. Late hand thinning resulted in smaller fruit size with less bitter pit. Fruit potassium/ calcium (K/Ca) ratio did not change significantly between June 20 and August 8 within the same year. This research unveils importance of rootstock, time, and level of and thinning in the fruit quality of ‘Honeycrisp’ apple.
