The Grounded Orchardist

June drop is almost over for us now. I say “for us” because in the UK this varies wildly. Hopefully, your fruit has set too much! You may be wondering whether you should thin out your hard earned fruit crop. My gut feeling is yes, you probably should.

Are we wasting the fruit?

I have been told many times that I am wasting the fruit, my answer is be my guest and take the thinning’s home but this really is for the good of the tree and the fruit that is left to ripen. My other response to the “waste” comments is that dropping these on the floor adds to the soil, gives beneficials/wildlife something to eat and in the case of plums especially, keeps the wasps off the fruit on the tree for a while. So I would argue it’s not a waste just because it is not going into our stomach. Do not drop any brown rot on the floor though, take that out of your orchard!

What can happen if I don’t thin out my fruit?

Leaving a big set to fully grow can result in –

• Branch breakages, it took years of selection and nurturing to grow that branch, try and save it!
• Stressed out trees that need more feeding and more water.
• Allowing the tree to revert back to being biennial, we want a crop every year!
• Reduced airflow which allows fungal diseases to thrive, in our changing climate fungal diseases are becoming increasingly happy.
• The tree using lots of energy to grow fruit that cannot ripen as the sun cannot find it.
• A large crop of small fruit.

So, apple thinning must soon commence. I have mentioned a lot how its not my favourite orcharding job but I’ll mention it again…because its true!

What do I need

• A lovely day…hopefully! Believe it or not, the cells in the stalk swell when it rains and this makes it harder to take off the apples. It almost feels like they are clinging on It’s much easier on a warm dry day. Less blisters too (bitter experience speaking there)!
• It’s a lot quicker with bare hands but you could use secateurs if you wish. Using secateurs can get tricky in the cases of varieties of fruit with short stalks.
• A vessel such as a barrow, crate etc to put the thinned out fruit if you are not dropping it on the floor. Or an apple collecting device if you are wanting to pick the thinning’s up later.

Here’s a few golden rules for fruit thinning

• Wait until June drop is over…it may be July but that doesn’t mean its over, it all depends on the season and where you are!
• Make sure you are only thinning the fruit, do not take off a spur unless you mean to.
• Leave one fruit per spur on cookers…unless you want smaller ones, then leave two!
• Leave two or maybe even three eaters on one spur. Three are for monsters like Jonagold.

So, which fruit should I take off?

• Look at the space they have to grow in, can a full-size apple fit there? It’s pointless keeping an apple squashed between a trunk and a post for instance.
• Is there any disease such as scab or insect damage? Take this off over a healthy fruit.
• Assess if the branch can take the extra weight, you may decide to crop less on that branch to save it.
• The largest fruit in the middle of the cluster of apples is the “King fruit”. You may choose to keep this because of its size but be aware it may not store well and could be more susceptible to issues such as Bitter pit.
• Thin out the smallest fruit.

Thinning other fruit

Although these tips lean towards apples, I have tried to make this generically about all fruit growing on trees. Most fruit will need a bit of thinning. Apply the space, disease and weight rules to any fruits such as plums, pears and peaches etc.

With plums, gages and damsons you want to break up the bunches, they can get very heavy and can easily snap branches.

Thinning a newly planted fruit tree

Now, here’s the real shocker! If you have a lovely new tree you planted this winter or even the winter before….take off all the fruit!! It seems wrong but all that energy that would have gone into growing fruit will be invested into growing good, strong roots. You will then have given your tree the best start for years to come. Be brave and look forward to next year’s fruit!