For bare root trees I planted a year ago, should I be thinning all of the few blossoms that come in or just wait for fruitlets to thin? I assume the former, given most branches wouldn’t support fruit anyway. That being said, it would be nice to get 1-2 apples from the trees just to taste some of these varieties I have never had before.
How does this vary for trees that are 4 years old, are nearly 1” caliper and 6-8’ with a little sturdier branches? I assume thin blossoms on wood not strong enough for fruit, but then wait to thin fruitlets? I didn’t know if thinning blossoms could be counter productive to pollination efforts with other trees?
I let a couple fruit on my second year trees just to taste the variety and it didn’t seem to set them back at all. Removed the rest at bloom stage though. For your older trees with decent caliper I’d just thin fruitlets, gives you a better idea of which ones the tree is actually going to hold onto anyway.
Agreed. Looking at my Park’s Pippin that is a small tree size has set a few dozen fruitlets. No way I can let it given the fact it makes a large apple.
i kind of want my trees to stay small and not over produce, so i let them keep an apple or two early on if they want to try. i don’t thin flowers on any trees.