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When I have asked growers to name some horticultural areas where they need more information, invariably, fruit thinning is at the top of their list. Fruit thinning results are at best a gamble because so many factors are involved in the final result. But as you well know, it has to be done in order to insure a proper crop load (this and next year), and to improve fruit size and quality. Some of you have asked me about a worksheet that Joe Costante had developed to assess the effects of chemical thinning. I am including the instructions and the worksheet in this newsletter. I have not had a chance to use it myself at the HRC (last year we had frost damage at bloom time), but I hope to use it this year to guide me on the thinning of the research plots. For more detail information on thinning, please lookup last year's May issue of this newsletter (http://orchard.uvm.edu/uvmapple/newsletter/1998/vtapple050198.htm). In this issue I will only include the Table 1. Thinning Windows to give you an indication on the best time to apply the thinners, and the Table 2. Specific Thinning Recommendations. |
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