Reduce the Effects of
Drought by Irrigating
Adequate soil moisture is
essential for good crop growth in
August. A healthy plant is com
posed of 75-90% water. Plants
use water for vital functions
including photosynthesis, sup
port (rigidity), and transporta
tion of nutrients and sugars to
various parts of the plant.
Options for applying water to
plants include: a watering can, a
garden hose with a fan nozzle or
spray attachment for contain
ers, small gardens or individual
plants and portable lawn sprin
klers, a perforated plastic soak
er hose, drip or trickle irriga
tion, or a semi-automatic drip
system for lawns and gardens.
The Virginia Consumer
Horticulture Guide to Nutrient
Management suggests using
these basic techniques and prin
ciples for watering.
•Adjust the flow or rate of
water application to about one
half inch per hour to avoid caus-
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ing run-off. To determine the
rate for a sprinkler, place small
tin cans at various places within
the sprinkler’s reach, and check
the level of water in the cans at
15 minute intervals.
•When using the oscillating
type of lawn sprinkler, place the
sprinkler on a platform higher
than the crop to prevent water
from being diverted by plant
leaves. Try to keep the watering
pattern even by frequently mov
ing the sprinkler and overlap
ping about one half of each pat
tern.
•Do not sprinkle foliage in
the evening. Wet foliage
overnight may encourage dis
ease. Morning watering is pre
ferred.
•Perforated plastic hoses or
soaker hoses should be placed
with holes down (if there are
holes), along one side of the crop
row or underneath mulch. Water
will slowly soak into the soil.
•Frequent, light waterings
will only encourage shallow
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CONESTOGA
WOLCOTT, N.Y. The apple
trees on the hillsides of the
1500-acre Gaboon Farms in
Wolcott, NY, are dotted with lots
rooting, causing plants to suffer
more quickly during drought
periods, especially if mulches
are not used. On the other hand,
too much water, especially in
poorly drained soils, can btr as
damaging to plant growth as too
little water.
Your lawn can use an inch or
more of water per week in hot,
dry weather. The lawn should be
watered when the soil begins to
dry out, but before the grass
actually wilts. Loss of resilience
can be observed when footprints
make a long-lasting imprint
instead of bouncing right back.
Critical watering periods for
selected vegetables include head
development for broccoli, cab
bage and cauliflower, pod filling
for beans and peas; seed emer
gence and root development for
carrots and silking; tasseling
and ear development for corn,
flowering or fruiting for egg
plant and tomatoes; flowering
and fruit development for
cucumber and melons; head
development on lettuce.
Questions on the above ihfor
mation can be directed to
Thomas Becker, Extension
Horticultural Agent, York
County, at 112 Pleasant Acres
Road, York, PA 17402 or call
(717) 840-7408.
Apples By The SI
of tiny, new apples. Hundreds of
17-bushel crates lie empty in the
long warehouses, waiting for the
fall harvest. But, thousands of
slices of fresh apples are moving
along conveyor belts in Nature’s
Pleasures, Gaboon’s new 7,000
square foot processing plant.
Fresh apples that have been
in controlled-atmosphere stor
age since last fall are cut into
wedges, dipped in a solution of
ascorbic acid to prevent contam
ination and browning, blow
dried, and packed in modified
atmosphere packaging for con
sumer use using “minimal
process” technology. That tech
nology was developed at the
New York State Agricultural
Experiment Station in Geneva,
NY, in the laboratory of Cornell
University food scientist C.Y
Lee. From dump room to pack
out takes 15 minutes.
In today’s run, fresh Granny
Smith, Empire and Gala apples
are being cut into wedges with
the skins on, dipped, dried, and
packaged with either caramel or
peanut butter dip under colorful
labels that feature Bugs Bunny
and his Looney Tune friends.
The 2.4 oz. fresh-fruit packs are
bound for school lunchrooms in
Dayton, Philadelphia, Grand
Rapids, Chicago, Long Island
and New York City.
“We co-pack these apples
packs for Tanimura and Antle,
Inc.,” said third-generation
owner Jeff Gaboon “The food
service company introduced
them last fall to satisfy the fed
eral minimum daily require
ment of one-half cup serving of
fresh fruit or vegetables in
school lunch programs ”
Perhaps more importantly, kids
really eat them. “The reorder
rate from school districts is 100
percent,” said Gaboon. “They are
one of the most popular items on
the school menu ”
When he isn’t co-packing for
other companies, Gaboon pack
ages his own Nature’s Pleasure
product of fresh-cut apples in 2
ounce, 8 ounce and 32 ounce
packages. Consumers and food
service companies use the larger
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 1, 1998-B7
ce
sizes to make apple pies. He
recently negotiated a contract
with U.S. Airway to offer the 2
ounce snack-pak—with or with
out cinnamon—on flights from
New York to Boston and
Washington, and expects to
negotiate a contract with U.S.
Air Express out of Dulles in the
next month.
Gaboon believes the time is
ripe for marketing apples by the
slice. “People have been educat
ed about the health benefits of
consuming five portions of fruits
or vegetables a day With the
fast-paced lifestyle, this is an
even easier, more convenient
way to eat apples,” he said.
“We developed the technology
for minimal processing using
ascorbic acid dip and modified
atmosphere packaging in the
early ’9os,” said C. Y. Lee, “but it
took several years for commer
cial adoption by the food indus
try.”
“Gaboon Farms uses a dip of
80,000 ppm of Vitamin C to pre
vent browning and contamina
tion by microorganisms, fol
lowed by a unique method of
blow drying and quick cooling
that increases the efficacy of
Vitamin C on the surface of the
dried apple slices,” said Lee. The
process improves the appear
ance, maintains apple texture,
extends shelf life to about .three
weeks, and maintains the nutri
tional benefits Because ascorbic
acid is so expensive, food scien
tists also had to develop a way to
pasteurize the Vitamin C dip
solution so it could be re-used in
processing.
Lee and his group are now
conducting research on the
antioxidant activity of fresh
apples. Lee is a strong believer
in the health benefits of fresh
fruit consumption—particularly
apples—and says there is even
stronger evidence that con
sumers should follow the old
adage “an apple a day keeps the
doctor away”
Americans consume about 20
pounds of fresh apples and 28
pounds of processed apples per
person per year.
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