Influence of Water Immersion Time and Storage Period on Black Rot Development in Cold-Stored, Water-Harvested Cranberries. A. W. Stretch, Research Plant Pathologist, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rutgers Blueberry and Cranberry Research Center, Chatsworth, NJ 08019. M. J. Ceponis, Research Plant Pathologist, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Post Harvest Research Center, Cook College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903. Plant Dis. 67:21-23. Accepted for publication 20 April 1982. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1983. DOI: 10.1094/PD-67-21.

Water-harvested and dry-harvested Early Black cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) were subjected to several harvest water-immersion times, stored for up to 10 wk at 3.5 C, and evaluated for fungal decay. The longer detached cranberry fruit was left in the bog water, the greater was the amount of black rot in stored fruit. As storage period increased from 2 to 10 wk, black rot incidence increased. Black rot caused by Strasseria oxycocci and Ceuthospora lunata occurred in 68% of the fungus-decayed fruit, with the former causing about seven times more black rot than the latter. The failure of current fruit-rot fungicide control programs to control black rot creates a problem in the storage and fresh-market sale of water-harvested cranberries.