Thinning fruit, Easier Said Than Done!

General Fruit Growing
#82

That IS odd - looks like they were run thru a cherry pitter

#83

I am very baffled, too. What ate the pits? One could be a fluke but two? There could be more that I missed. There were a bunch of seeds without flesh around. That definitely is the work of birds. Some of them are so good that they eat all the flesh and let the seeds hang on stems. I should have taken pictures.

#84

I often see that on cherries - but pitting the fruit is something else

#85

I thinned my sweet sixteen and jonagold and definitely didnā€™t take enough off. Ugh :expressionless:. There bigger than a golf ball now or most are. Guess I have to force myself to go do it again

#86

Like I said before, the bigger the fruit, the harder for me to pull them off!!

For apples, I leave mostly one fruit per cluster.

#87

I left one to two per cluster thinking if there is insect damage I will pull one off but so far very very lid damage. Sweet sixteen set for the first time a bumper crop hop it doesnā€™t go bi annual

#88

No frost damage this year produced more peaches than I have ever seen on my 150 trees. We had to do something to thin the peaches quickly in order to complete other tasks.

I resorted to raking a piece of PVC pipe over the top and bottom side of the fruiting wood and followed up with one hand thinning. Raking with the PVC pipe worked a lot better than hitting the branches with a baseball bat for the initial thinning.

We should probably thin closer to get bigger fruit, but good peaches are like gold in my area so we mix the smaller peaches with the larger ones in each 1/2 peck pack bag we sell from the farm. We get no complaints and normally sell out early

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#89

Thin earlier!

#90

Thinned off tons more today. Some because of bugs. Others because I realize that those small twigs cannot suuport even one full-size peach by Sept. It was just a disaster waiting to happen if not removing them now.

#91

It is a easy year for me on thinning peaches. They didnā€™t set as many fruits as they did previous years. I wish I could put a few peaches back to fill empty space on the branches

#92

Give me your address and I will send you a box full. You have to contract the elves to stick them into the trees, though. They are the only ones who can do it and only work at night. Not sure what they will accept for payment- usually they only put them back on trees to annoy people.

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#93

The only things that work at night in my yards are bunnies, raccoons, opossums, OFM and PC, in no particular order. Iā€™ve seen no elves. They would be welcome.

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#94

THat is so funny about elves putting the fruit back on the trees at night after thinning! You could actually convince me of it without much effort, too! ha. Seriously, almost every year I thin my trees to a point Iā€™m sure will be right. A week or two later I have to take only a FEW more off, but almost as many as the first round! haha. They just have to be getting back on there- I couldnā€™t miss THAT many. haha

This year was the easiest thinning I ever had. Just like @IL847, my trees didnā€™t set nearly as many this year (late frost). It almost made loosing so many to frost worth it.

Iā€™m with @mamuang , too. When fruits get to be much bigger than a marble I find it VERY hard to take them off and throw them away.

#95

You need another orchard keeper in the neighborhood so you can thin each otherā€™s trees- both of you will likely end up with better fruit.

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#96

That is also very funnyā€¦and very true. I know thinning is important and works well, and if it was someone ELSEā€™s trees Iā€™m sure Iā€™d get it right. But I canā€™t pull MY hard fought fruit off like I should! haha. Great point. Maybe me and Tippy can thin each others fruitā€¦weā€™re only about 1000 miles apart.

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#97

Send with elves too :grinning:

#98

Today thinning is toughest ( this year) because most were perfectly good peaches. They happened to be at thevwrong at the right time. So, they had to go.

Put an apricot for size comparison ( store bought -I am not as good as @Stan : :grin:). Some were almost as big as an apricot :unamused:

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#99

Weā€™ve been having to thin golf ball sized peaches lately because the fairies/elves struck quite a few trees (they only show up if you donā€™t want them to and only put fruit on trees which donā€™t need it). They sort of act like gremlins, but it will make them mad if you call them that. If you make them mad they can make all your fruit disappear almost as mysteriously as they can put it on.

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This is the first year Green Gage set well. Most of the time the tree produces half a bushel at most. This year my one tree was fairly loaded. Iā€™ve already decided to get rid of it though. This is itā€™s last season.

This is a pic today before I thinned it.

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#100

My understanding is, from the book i read, that elves and dragons are friends . Look around, you might find a dragon nest somewhere in your orchard.
And dragons in general like gold, jewry. Once you found the dragon nest you might find a treasure chest that belong to one eyed pirate

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#101

mamuang,
That looks like a plentiful fruit set.How many Peach trees and what is their size/age? Brady