Fruit Thinning
The orchard schedule in this post includes fruit thinning. Pest control, increased watering, soil amendments, and mulching were covered in Spring and Dry Summer Gardening Priorities Part 1.
Impact of Fruit Thinning on Fruit Size
Fruit thinning is an essential aspect of orchard management that backyard gardeners rarely practice, but it is crucial for pest and quality control.
Crowded Fruits
Crowded fruits are prone to pressure damage. Pressure and injury sites will allow water or moisture stagnation, leading to mishappen, discoloured, diseased or rotten fruits. It also becomes a hiding place for pests. In addition, when fruits grow in clusters, they all take up evenly distributed nutrients, resulting in smaller fruits with uneven ripening, which may be prolonged.
Naturally Spaced Fruits
Removing some of the tightly packed fruits while still small allows the remaining fruits to grow larger and develop good colouring.
Using Thinned Fruits
Thinned fruits may be used for composting or making preserves if they are large enough to be eaten.
Well-thinned Fruits
The tree is less likely to break when the fruits are heavy. From dormancy, many fruits will develop during spring and summer, especially in temperate trees. Peaches, apples, and nectarines may benefit from fruit thinning.
Selecting Fruits to Thin Out
The apple in the middle is the best candidate to remove. This will also reduce the weight on the already weighed-down branch.
Quality Home Grown Fruits
Both fruits were thinned to two per spur resulting in larger well-shaped and good-coloured fruits. Similar to those found in the malls. However, citruses and plums suffer from fruit and flower drop during the dry summer that may thin them naturally; One of the reasons some oranges grow larger is when there are few fruits on the tree.
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