Bitter Pit in an apple storing facility

Bitter Pit on Granny Smith apples. Bitter Pit is a physiological disorder of apples which most of the times appears post-harvest, during apple storage in cool rooms. Calcium deficiency and calcium/potassium imbalance are the main causes of this condition.

The problem can get worse in cases of excessive Nitrogen or Potassium fertilization or if Boron is in short supply. Also excessive pruning and thinning lead to big-sized fruits which are more prone to the Bitter Pit condition.