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Any ideas on what’s going on in this apple?

I cut into this apple and it had these small brown streaks. The apple itself was firm and looked good on the outside with no obvious spots or bruises. I accidentally ate a small piece and it tasted normal and sweet.

It doesn’t look like a typical maggot nor rot.

Gala Apple with thin brown lines in the flesh.

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    Could be oxidation due to scratch different than the straightly cut surface
    – Alchimista
    Nov 30, 2020 at 9:39
  • That's a really interesting idea, but I don't think so. That picture was taken less than a minute after the cut, and I used a really sharp knife
    – woo2
    Dec 3, 2020 at 18:33
  • I observed something like that but the answer below seems what you were looking for
    – Alchimista
    Dec 3, 2020 at 19:22

2 Answers 2

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From Ask An Expert:

These symptoms are characteristic of a physiological disorder called bitter pit, which is the result of a calcium deficiency. This may be the result of inadequate calcium in the soil.

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Bitter pit does not necessarily indicate low soil calcium, although consistent bitter pit for several years certainly points in that direction. Anything that results in excessive foliar growth can cause bitter pit, because calicum gets diverted to the foliar growth. Heavy pruning, excessive nitrogen fertilizer, and excessive irrigation all can lead to bitter pit.

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We have this from time to time on our cooking apples. The tree has a compose heap at the bottom of it. An old gardener advised we put lime at the bottom of the tree and that worked for some years

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    This would correlate to the answer above. Lime has a lot of calcium, and therefore can be used to counteract the calcium deficiency that causes bitter pit.
    – Esther
    May 11 at 15:45

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