My Liberty apple is generous with its fruit and so I thin like crazy- probably 95%. This year I got an early start and began removing blossoms, often before they opened. As I worked the bees were in the tree and I started musing about depriving them, and I also started wondering what condition I would be in if I didn’t get good fruit set in the remaining blossoms.
Maybe I muse and wonder too much, but I’d be interested in other’s thoughts.
Thanks,
M
I think I thin more than most, even other experienced growers. But I still under thin way more than over thin. However some value yield more than others for very good reasons like more mouths to feed.
I can’t remember when I last thought that I way over thinned.
I share your concern Mark. Here in the PNW we have had such a cool, wet and windy Spring I have pollination concerns. Although I have seen flies and misc. native pollinators, bees - whether mason, bumble or honey, have been scarce. I have waited until petal fall to thin.
I think my Gala is going to need heavy thinning, but it bloomed so much later than all the other apples and crabs, I couldn’t be sure pollination was going on
Looking at it now, it seems, somehow, to be a real heavy set, but a few more days will tell when the drops start. Then I’ll thin, not before.