A lime-sulfur/fish oil spray just after full bloom is a common organic alternative to hand thinning that works well. It works well enough that many conventional growers use it also. I suppose if a person wanted to burn all flowers off a tree they would need two of these caustic sprays just before and after full bloom. There used to be an excellent conventional flower thinner that lost registration many years ago, think it was called Eligtal. I haven't kept up with any replacements for it.
Bill Fleming Montana State University Western Ag Research Center 580 Quast Ln Corvallis, Montana -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Shoemaker Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 6:31 AM To: Apple-crop discussion list Subject: Re: [apple-crop] Manually dropping fruit from young trees Rye Its common for many commercial growers to do just that. Rather than hand thinning though, they use chemical thinners, such as NAA and Sevin. Depending on weather conditions, rates and bloom load, it will take out a percentage of the flowers. Bill ---- Original message ---- >Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2011 20:29:54 -0500 (EST) >From: Rye <[email protected]> >Subject: [apple-crop] Manually dropping fruit from young trees >To: [email protected] > > Why is it customary to allow fruit to form and then > drop it when it is small, rather than removing > flowers so the tree doesn't "waste" energy forming > any fruit at all? Curious if tree growth can be > increased without harmful effects by removing > flowers before they form fruit. > > Thanks, > Rye Hefley > Future Farmers Marketer > So. Cal. >________________ >_______________________________________________ >apple-crop mailing list >[email protected] >http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop William H Shoemaker, UI-Crop Sciences Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops St Charles Horticulture Research Center 535 Randall Road St Charles, IL 60174 630-584-7254; FAX-584-4610 _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list [email protected] http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop _______________________________________________ apple-crop mailing list [email protected] http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop
