Earlier harvested ‘Empire’ apples also maintained higher firmness during storage, compared to those harvested later (Table 3). From the early harvest, ‘Empire’ apples that received one or two 1-MCP treatments had 71.2 N and 72.1 N of firmness, respectively, after CA storage plus 7 d at RT. In contrast, firmness of similar ‘Empire’ without 1-MCP decreased to 60.5 N. In comparison, late harvested ‘Empire’ apples with two 1-MCP treatments had a firmness of 62.3 N, while those with a single 1-MCP treatment retained only 58.7 N firmness, after 9 months of CA storage plus 7 d at RT. Overall, a second 1-MCP treatment to late harvested ‘Empire’ apples part way though long-term CA storage improved firmness retention during 7 d at RT.