How to Thin Fruit For a Better Harvest

 

Thinning fruit is one of the hardest jobs of a backyard orchardist. We get excited about the trees loaded with fruit and that nothing was lost to a late freeze. It can literally be painful to remove fruit from your trees; after all,  it's having fruit the goal?  So what is the purpose of thinning fruit?

Why Thin Fruit?

• Thinning increases fruit size
• Prevent the tree from overbearing.  If there is a large crop one year that may result in a small crop or no crop the following year
• To prevent limbs from breaking due to the weight of the fruit

Benefits from thinning?

Thinning balances the amount of fruit left on trees with the leaf surface that provides the energy to grow and ripen fruit. Leaving too much fruit on a tree creates a burden for the tree. It takes energy from other processes that occur during the period of fruit development. (OSU Extension Service)

When too much fruit is left on a tree, fruit bud production will be limited, causing a light crop the following year.

One of those processes is fruit bud development for the coming crop. When too much fruit is left on a tree, fruit bud production will be limited. The result is a light crop the following year. Also, when too many fruit are left on a tree, the competition among fruit for scarce nutrients will limit the size of each fruit. (OSU Extension Service)

Apple spur before thinning

How Much Fruit to Thin

Each fruit type requires a slightly different method.  Cherries do not require thinning.

Apples and pears

•  First thin to one fruit per spur.  A spur is the short, woody structure from which flowers and fruit grow.

• The goal is to end up with only one fruit for about every 6 inches of branch. If your tree is healthy and vigorous, it will have more than one spur every 6 inches along a branch. Thus, you will need to leave some spurs with no fruit on them. This helps to balance your crop for next year.

• When choosing which fruit to leave, look for the largest fruit. Fruit that is small or damaged should be dropped first.

Thin fruit as early as possible.

• Thin fruit as early as possible — before each apple reaches the size of a dime in diameter. This usually occurs within the first 20 days after petal fall. Removing these small fruit early will keep energy available for the fruit that remain and for fruit bud development for next year.

•  Be careful not to break off the spurs while thinning. Spurs will produce flowers and fruit for many years if not broken during thinning and harvesting.

Apple spur after thinning

Apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums

On stone fruit trees, the fruit is borne mostly on one-year-old wood rather than on spurs.

Plums are borne on both one-year-old wood and on small spurlike structures. 

When thinning these trees, try to leave about 6 to 8 inches between young fruit on the branch. 

Young fruit should be thinned within 30 days of petal drop.

Be advised that peaches, nectarines, cherries and plums naturally drop some fruit near early June. This is referred to as June drop, and it is the tree's way of lightening the crop load.

You may want to leave a little more fruit than you want for the final crop to see which fruit the tree intends to drop for you. With time you will learn how to adjust for the June drop.

As the fruit matures and branches begin to bow from the weight, you may need to take more fruit off each limb. This will protect your tree from limb breakage, especially when the tree is young. If you do not want to thin more fruit, you may need to use poles or props to hold up the limbs. (OSU Extension)

Cherries do not require thinning.