Harvest Maturity
- Skin Colour
Minimum plate no 9 on colour chart PL 25 (SmartFreshSM plate no 10, fully coloured)
- Total Soluble Solids (TSS%)
Minimum 11.0
- Flesh Firmness
Maximum : 8.5
Minimum : 4.0
Optimum : 7.0 (Not for inspection purposes)
Note: Maximum flesh firmness may increase by 0.5 kg for each 1% increase in the minimum TSS
- Harvesting
Generic information [PL2]
Other Quality Requirements At Pack
- Quality Requirements
Packaging And Cold Storage
- Internal Packaging (Standard Loose Pack)
Standard 5 kg loose pack
- Use 300 x 400 mm pulp or plastic trays.
- Use 300 x 400 mm paper inter-sheet between plums and top tray.
- Use 500 x 800 mm plum HDPE 18 -20 micron shrivel sheet with 48 x 6 mm perforations. Place shrivel sheet in carton and fold over plums from both sides.
- Use 300 x 400 mm white corrugated sheet (58 g) on top of the folded shrivel sheet.
For generic information on shrivel see [PL10]
- Punnets
No special requirement.
- Other Packs
Refer to stone fruit industry packaging guidelines Pome Stone Handling Protocols
- Cold Storage
- The default temperature regime for Laetitia plums is a PD7. Harvest maturity, market and skin colour must be taken into consideration when selecting the shipping regime. As a general rule fruit harvested softer than the optimum flesh firmness should be shipped at a PD5. An exception is plums treated with SmartFreshSM, in which case a PD1 temperature regime must used.
- The maximum recommended cold storage period for Laetitia plums in the standard loose pack is 49 days from the harvest date. For fruit packed in punnets or thrift bags the recommended maximum cold storage period is 42 days.
- Internal disorders develop exponentially during cold storage and cold storage should be as short as possible. See generic information [PL5] and [PL6]
For Generic Information on handling after harvest, cooling, shipping and shipping regimes [PL4]
SmartfreshSM
- Note
Generic information SmartFreshSM [PL16]