Effect of Duration and Rate of Freezing and Tissue Hydration on ‘Bartlett’ Pear Buds, Flowers, and Small Fruit

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Freezing studies on ‘Bartlett’ pear ( Pyrus communis L.) bouquets of buds, flowers, and small fruit showed injury increased with decreasing temperature, increasing developmental stage, and increasing duration of frost. At the minimum temperature, 30 and 60 minutes of frost exposure in all stages increased injury, however, in the small fruit stage injury at −2°C increased for up to 2 hours exposure. The effect of freezing rate was dependent on minimum temperature and dry florets were injured slightly more than florets misted just prior to freezing.