The cots were so early this year, the apples so much later, that I think the timing is off.
Apples bloomed roughly 5 days ahead of normal in my area…and the freeze 15 days ago thinned some…even severely in some areas…
But I have all the fruit set my trees normally have in a good year.
Plus a a half dozen younger grafted trees have a apple or several for the first time.
Upper 30’s last night…so hope the tomato plants didn’t get blackened a little.
I probably won’t have to wait 3 weeks, looks like basically all my apples/peaches/cherries/plums are toast. Ah well, I suppose someone draws the short straw every year, guess it was me this time 
Here’s to next year…
Sorry for you,
but turned out pretty good here.
And if a drought had been starting…this rain stopped it in it’s tracks.
I am so sorry to hear. It is terrible to lose both stone and pomme fruit as pomme often is a lot hardier. Maybe, some pome will survive.
So sorry to hear this! That happened to me last year, it is a major bummer. Good to look forward to next year, and use the extra time you’ll have to catch up on orchard projects or maintenance maybe?
I’ve got blackberries and strawberries and (maybe) blueberries in the mean time. And of course plenty of orchard related projects! Gotta be an optimist to enjoy this hobby…
Thanks.
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What is the ideal fruit size when you begin thinning? Dime circumference? Nickel? Pea size?
For apples and pears that bloom heavily, I thin those flower clusters out even before fruit set. Otherwise, I thin fruitlet off as soon as possible. I’ve found that when I thin a lot of apples early, I have minimal to no “June drop”.
Stone fruit esp. peaches, if fruit are set where there are little to no leaves to support fruit, there are gone quickly.
However, people may to wait until they could get first spray on. This way, you will find out how much damage your fruit get from pests. Those will be thinned off first. Don’t thin all at once.
To me, the sooner, the better so trees do not need to waste their energy to size up fruit that will end up being thinned anyway.
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Great thanks.
Shouldn’t have to do much thinning on apples but more than likely on pears and maybe peaches. I’ve sprayed with surround and imidan to knock out PC and haven’t noticed any at this point. But was thinking that my thinning could revolve around fruits with PC strikes. But that would probably be very tedious. Right now pears are almost dime sized. Peaches about half that size.
You are in a great shape. Of the many chemicals I read here, Imidam seems to give one of the best results and has a curative effect, too. Adding Surround is a nice touch. Hope you add fungicide, too.
“Generally, the earlier that thinning is performed, the greater the success in increasing fruit size.”
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Been trying to transplant trees from the nursery bed to the orchard rows even in the rain, but wasn’t able to accomplish much. Today it was sunny for the first time in a while and I got a rows worth of planting done, about 43 trees, for a total of about 108 trees transplanted. The soil is wet and heavy and I’m whooped! Back at it tomorrow, see how far I get. I have TOO MANY trees on standard / semi-standard rootstock, they’re taking up so much room!
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Like @speedster1, I have just sprayed surround with Imidan (and copper added). Saw one fruit that may have a PC bite but thats all. Did notice what looked like some leaf curl on a few trees so I was super anxious to get that 2nd coat on. Finally got a pretty good start on spraying this year and I’m optimistic. Freeze took most of the asian pears and thinned out peaches to the final 25%. Only one or two peaches per limb max. Same with plums. Apple set seems really heavy this year. As suggested to me previously, could be a result of the heavy freeze last year that took all my fruit–it set me up for a better yield this year. Noticed a bunch of apple trees that seemed to be heavier on tip bearing than spur bearing. All the fruit is crammed down on the end of the branch although there are a few along the branch. This year I made an effort to prune differently, favoring heading cuts to open up trees and improve form over my usual thinning cuts. Perhaps I was taking off those tip bearing buds all along and that was cutting into my yield. Regardless, pleased with what looks to be a good apple year!
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Checked the fruit set. I had hope for the nects, but no luck.
I’ve got Gala apples and Harglow cots set. Might get some Euro plums but they look likely to drop. Maybe a couple of pears. That’s it. Oh, and LOTS of White Gold cherries.
I’ll have to get started thinning and bagging those Galas shortly, but that’s about all I’ll have to do this year.
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I did a little thinning on Anoka apple today…should have done much more.
Most everything else has a decent crop, but natural drop may take care of a need to thin.
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Pluot has been less than productive the past 2 years. Lots of dead, wrinkled branches also. I did some major pruning cuts today and saw that the center of the large branches are dark and not healthy looking. Should not be a water issue as it gets a weekly watering and other trees in that same area are perfectly fine. Any recommendations?
When I saw dead wood like that it reminds me of verticillium wilt.
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I thin while I bag.
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