Thinning Season Pt 1

Thinning Season Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. Another Spring has arrived and that means fruit orchards are buzzing with more than bees. It's a key time of the year for growers who want to maximize their production come harvest time.

Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission project manager, Tory Schmidt says it comes down to one major task ...

SCHMIDT ... "The most important thing they can do to directly effect those parameters related to crop-load management. And, at this time of year when we're talking about crop-load management we're really talking about thinning."

Schmidt says this is THE time for thinning ...

SCHMIDT ... "So, the best opportunity to affect the crop-load with a chemical application this timing around when you have an open bloom or shortly after bloom is open. So, this is really kind of the key time for growers to take steps to manage their crops so that they can hopefully get a good return at the end of the season."

But, before that, Schmidt hopes growers have already taken care of the pruning ...

SCHMIDT ... "Once the tree then comes into bloom, usually there are far too many flowers that would set too many fruit for the tree to produce a good crop. The fruit would be too small. The quality would be poor. They wouldn't mature properly if they weren't thinned."

Schmidt says healthy trees usually pay off ...

SCHMIDT ... "Those trees will hide the number of fruit that are actually in there so it's really difficult to see that there's a lot more fruit in the tree than people realize"

Tune in tomorrow for more on the necessity of thinning and why the time is now!

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BL: Welcome back to another "Fruit Bites" brought to you by Valent U.S.A. With us again is Valent's Allison Walston. And this week Allison, let's have an organic fruit update.

AW: Whether you buy organic or conventional fruit & produce, it is ALWAYS best to wash it especially if you don't peel it. From E.coli to Listeria to pesticide residues, I have started assuming that anything at anytime can be found on produce from groceries to farmers markets.

BL: So even a quick rinse under the faucet is enough?

AW: It's definitely better than nothing. Rinsing, wiping or soaking in an apple cider vinegar, warm water mixture will greatly reduce the contaminants.

BL: I keep a colander by the sink and give everything a nice rinse before I cook with the vegetables or fruit!

AW: And just because something is labeled organic, be just as cautious and rinse that too! Be extra rinse-y on berries, apples, grapes, peaches, cherries & pears.

BL: Well, thanks Allison. Join us again next time for Fruit Bites, brought to you by Valent. Until then, I'm Bob Larson.

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/dirty-dozen.php

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