North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Cooper" <JCooper@lewiston.k12.id.us>]

We have thinned all clusters down to the best one, usually the king bloom. We 
do the thinning about a week before the bagging. except when we miss one or 
two. This seems faster to not be doing both at the same time, yes you go over 
the same area twice.

We bagged using Wally's sandwich bags at $2 for 100 and now have used 2300 
bags and have more to go. So we may have not thinned enough! We have not done 
the 6" rule for the apples.

We did thin one peach tree and it is a big elberta. We estimated the 3 
gallons of picks at 150 per pint to be 3600 extra peaches. These we do thin 
to one per 6" of branch or one fruit to 12 leaves. No we do not count leaves 
just estimate how bushy the branch is and leave fruit accordingly. We usually 
still get 300 - 400 lbs of nice peaches from this tree if we thin enough! If 
not we have broken branches and get 300 - 400 lbs of small so so peaches. We 
have to be ruthless in thinning the peaches and maybe should also for the 
apples. They may size up better and taste much better like the peaches.

Jim 
N. Idaho

>>> "Mark Dorogi" <mddorogi@comcast.net> 5/26/2008 7:29 PM >>>
I have very heavy fruit set this year in my apples.  Almost all of them are
loaded.  I'm bagging the apples now and thinning as I go.  It sure takes a
while, but it does seem relaxing.

 

I'm worked on the Cox's Orange Pippen today.  What a load of apples; I've
never seen so many.  Question:  How many apples can a dwarf tree produce?
This tree is around 10 years old, a solid 10' tall and wide, well branched,
not sure what rootstock, and I've put in 200 baggies and expect to put in at
least another 100 more, perhaps 150 more.  I am thinning each cluster to one
apple and trying to keep an average spacing of around 6".  I've probably
removed 500 apples. 

 

Just wondering if a dwarf tree like this can actually produce 300 or 400
apples or if I should be thinning more aggressively.  Last year, it didn't
set any fruit. 

 

And, how many average sized apples are in a bushel?  

 

I see no bug damage yet.  It's warm out now, so I've been watching out for
curculio. I'll probably go out and smack the trees a few times before bed,
to knock any out.  It is supposed to get cooler overnight though, low 50's,
and the next few nights it is predicted to be in the 30's.  I might even be
able to get the baggies on before the bugs really get going.

 

 

      

Mark

SE Michigan