Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 13
Fruit Thinning and Harvesting
CHAPTER CONTENTS
Many temperate fruit crops develop excessively heavy fruit loads, which
creates several problems. Some fruits, particularly apples and apricots, can
develop a heavy crop one year and a very light crop the next year or some-
times two. Our goal is to produce annual, sustainable yields of large, high-
quality fruit.
In many crops, having too many fruits on the tree reduces the size of the
fruit. Excessive numbers of fruit also interfere with light distribution, de-
creasing the number of flower buds formed in some crops for the following
season and creating poor fruit color. Crowding of fruits interferes with air
movement and spray applications and allows adjacent fruits to touch one
another, increasing pest and disease problems. Trees require large amounts
of energy to develop fruits, and excessively heavy crops weaken and stunt
trees, making them more susceptible to pests and diseases and increasing
the likelihood that limbs and trunks will break.
Fruit crops naturally thin themselves. For most crops, flowers that have
not been pollinated fall off without developing fruits. In pome fruits, very
young fruits that have only a few seeds drop off in what is called “June drop.”
June drop can be alarming for new fruit growers because it looks as if the
