Good Fruit Grower

December 2013

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Bloom thinning boosts fruit size PHOTOS COURTESY OF BAS VAN DEN ENDE Hand-thin flowers to increase size of peaches and nectarines. by Bas van den Ende e all know that growing small peaches and nectarines is a sure way to go broke. Most peach and nectarine trees set more fruit than they can size. Flowers and young fruit compete for the limited reserves of carbohydrates and nutrients that the tree has accumulated during the previous autumn. So, too many flowers and young fruitlets lead to too many fruit—all small. The market has become so demanding and competitive that only fruit growers who can consistently grow fruit of optimum size, high quality, and good taste stand a chance of survival. You could do this by pruning, shorten laterals and thin fruit to a yield target (see "Prune for size," Good Fruit Grower, December 2012, and "Shorten laterals to cut thinning costs," Good Fruit Grower, March 1, 2013). To help you achieve a yield target, you could also remove (i.e., thin) some flowers early in the cropping cycle, so that the trees would produce the correct number and size of fruit, with higher yields. W Before hand-thinning. This lateral has 12 flowers. There are several methods of thinning: a) hand-thinning (quick or precise), b) chemical thinning (blossom burners or growth regulators), and c) mechanical thinning. Hand-thinning Hand-thinning of flowers avoids risks of over- or underthinning, is simpler, and generates more predictable results than mechanical or Serving America's Landowners Since 1929 3035 Rickenbacher Drive Pasco, Washington 99301 Call us for your farm real estate needs! Flo Sayre, Managing Broker Accredited Land Consultant ABR, ALC, CNE, CRIS, TRC, REALTOR "2013 Washington Land Broker of the Year" Mobile: (509) 539-3161 FSayre@FarmersNational.com Nat Cruzen, Broker Mobile: (509) 460-0526 NCruzen@FarmersNational.com Henry Johnson, Managing Broker Mobile: (509) 539-6678 HJohnson@FarmersNational.com Check out our website for exclusive listings! www.FarmersNational.com Real Estate • Auctions • Farm and Ranch Management Appraisals • Consultations • Insurance • Oil and Gas Management Lake Management • National Hunting Leases 66 DECEMBER 2013 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com

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