Fruit Thinning and Harvesting - Growing Organic Orchard Fruits - page 667

ing is an important step in managing crop load, it is not the only step. For
some crops, additional thinning to remove some of the young fruits is needed.
Types of Thinning
Crop loads can be reduced by removing flowers; very young, green fruit; or
older fruit. Thinning can be done by hand, with handheld devices, or by large,
tractor-mounted machines.
Hand Thinning
By picking off some of the fruits, you leave more room and resources for the
remaining fruits. Start by removing double fruits (fruits that are fused to-
gether), fruits that are smaller than average for the tree, and damaged or de-
formed fruits. Then remove additional fruits to achieve the densities shown
in table 13.1 ➔ and described below.
While you can follow the guidelines for spacings in table 13.1 ➔ exactly
— for example, spacing apples 4 to 8 inches apart — a better approach is
to thin according to size and use the spacings as averages. Fruits that are
small at the time of thinning will likely remain small at maturity. Leave lar-
ger fruits when possible, even if it means leaving a smaller spacing between
some fruits and a larger spacing between others. Use the spacings given in
the table as a guide for the average number of fruits that should be along a
given branch. When thinning apples, for example, for every 48 inches of fruit-
ing wood, you should leave 6 to 12 of the largest fruits. Space the individual
fruits far enough apart that they do not push each other off the branches
or rub against each other excessively as they enlarge. For apples, leave no
more than two fruits per cluster and leave some fruiting spurs without fruit
to ensure adequate return bloom the following season.
Pole Thinning
Pole thinning speeds up the thinning process and is especially useful where
hand thinning requires a ladder. You can attach about 6 to 10 inches of rub-