Thinning Fruit

Last year, all of my fruit trees were FULL of fruit! Due to time (lack of it!) I did not 'thin' the fruit. For one thing, I know little about caring for fruit trees. So, when is the best time to thin? I mainly need to know about apples and pears.

I've never thinned my trees. They usually will thin themselves naturally. It supposedly is Nature's way to get rid of improperly pollinated fruit and/or to drop an overly-heavy load that the tree could not support.

Did you have good fruit last yr, BrandyCat? Did it seem you needed to thin them? The reason I ask is many of our trees look like they are gonna be "well endowed" this yr..yeehaww!

Do a google search on "thinning fruit trees" and you will find a wealth of information. Fruit trees will naturally thin themselves, but to get the largest fruit you should do some hand thinning. I have taken to wrapping some of the fruit with spun polyester cloth so as to ensure that I get some insect free fruit. That way, I don't have to mess with spraying.

hmm...good idea Copperbaron. I have pcs of old reemay around, that would be useful for that I suppose! Thanks for the tip!

Because you didn't thin last year your trees did not set buds for the next year.You can lose up to 90% of the fruit buds on a peach tree and still get what is considered a full crop.Apples will get what is called a june drop where you will lose some fruit but I try to thin to 1-2 fruit per cluster. Pears I thin to 1 fruit per cluster. The main thing is did you prune? I take off 50-60% of the new growth every year. Anything that grows straight up or branches that cross are removed,clean out the inside of the tree, airflow is really important.Trim remaining branches back to a downward facing node.Branches that grow out or down will produce more and better buds.It's not to late to prune, you can through summer.

This message was edited Thursday, May 8th 6:10 PM

Copperbaron, how do you wrap and what is spun polyester cloth?
Tks

Kokopelli, do a google search for spunbonded polyester to find out more information. I take a section of the cloth and wrap around each fruit and fasten with a rubber band. Alternatively, you can wrap around an entire limb.

(I like the "entire limb" thought. Wheww...lot of wrapping for someone with a small "orchard" of 23 trees.)

Wish I could use some sort of "silly string"...now THAT would fool the little boogers!~

I don't wrap the whole tree up. As you said, it would be way too much work. I just cover up enough so that I am assured of getting some unblemished fruit from each tree - I get some, the critters get some.

In Oregon and Japan they bag individual fruit with different color paper bags to induce color enhancements in the fruit,especially Fuji,also to get perfect fruit.

Wow! Love the responses! Haven't been on line in a few days. Horseshoe - yes, I had abundant fruit, but some smaller than I think should be - hence, reason for thinning? Jake, thanks for the enlightenment on peach trees loosing 90% of crop. That's the fruit I'm most worried about. I have numerous other fruit trees, but only 1 peach tree. It was absolutely overwhelming and perfect last year, but this year it appears quite sick! All of my other trees have blossomed and leaved, but the peach tree hasn't. It's got some 'green growth' - mostly toward the top of the tree. The branches all have beginning buds, but they are 'blackened', along with the immediate connecting branches. What's up with that? Yes, I did prune last year, same as before, along with the same 1-time 'oil' spray. So, any clues? Thanks a bunch.