Fruit Bites for April 19-21 Accede Pt 2

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, we are doing a part 2 segment on apple thinning. What’s on the checklist for thinning apples?

AW: Having a checklist is a great first step. This thinning window seems to go so quick. First, have an idea about how much fruit you would like to drop. Know your closest weather station to watch the temperatures and cloud cover. Have calipers to measure the diameter of fruitlets. Be ready with adjuvants as some materials need help to get thorough coverage.

BL: then it is juggling temperatures, rates, products all while trying to get that perfect number of fruit on the tree?

AW: Exactly. Frost & freezes eliminate fruit. Temperatures above 65 degrees can help certain PGRs thin apples better. Multiple days of cloud cover can send the tree into a carbon deficit and also make thinning easier. Knowing the exact diameter of the fruitlets helps application timings.

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