Page 10 



BETTER FRUIT 



June 1919 



The Importance of Thinning Fruit and How to Do It 



THE prospects for high prices for 

 apples this year and the fact that 

 labor is costly will no doubt cause 

 many a grower to ask himself this ques- 

 tion: Will it pay to thin? If the 

 grower who asks himself that question 

 is wise, he must conclude that it does. 

 There is no weight to the argument that 

 thinning is costly, for, as has been 

 pointed out frequently by authorities 

 on the cost of orcharding, there is just 

 so much fruit to be picked and it costs 

 no more to pick it at thinning time than 

 it does when harvesting time comes. 

 The grower must also remember that 

 more boxes of inferior fruit do not 

 mean any more to him in the way of in- 

 come than a less number of boxes of 

 first-class quality. In fact, taking into 

 consideration the expense of packing 

 and handling, it is an assured fact that 

 the grower who doesn't thin is very 

 much out of pocket even in the years 

 when prices for fruit rule extremely 

 high. 



Why You Should Thin. 

 Apart from this view of the question 

 of thinning, there are other reasons 

 why the careful and progressive fruit 

 producer should always thin his fruit 

 unless it so happens that nature has 

 done it for him. One of the most im- 

 portant of these is that he should look 

 to the future well being of his trees. It 

 is a well-known fact that the practice 

 of allowing fruit trees to overbear is 



By W. H. Walton, Editor of Better Fruit 



more conducive in bringing on the al- 

 ternate-crop year than any other cause. 

 Thinning is also very important in 

 maintaining the vigor of the trees from 

 year to year as well as making it pos- 

 sible to produce fruit of maximum size, 

 color and quality. All these reasons 

 are very important factors to an or- 

 chard, for when the trees become weak- 

 ened in any manner they will not be 

 able to so successfully resist insect 

 pests and tree diseases. Therefore, the 



sized varieties closer and some of the 

 larger growing kinds farther apart. 



The thinner should study his trees 

 individually and thin so that at picking 

 time the trees will hold up well under 

 a uniform load of well-sized apples. It 

 takes close observation and experience 

 to get the best results from thinning and 

 care should be taken in selecting hands 

 to do the work. The best results in 

 thinning the larger varieties like the 

 Winesap and Spitzenberg can be ol)- 



On the right is a branch of unlhinned fruit, 

 showing the apples touching each other and too 

 close together. The branch on tlie left shows 

 the results of thinning, and the fruit more 

 nearly in the position it should be to obtain 

 the best results. 



One of the best final resull> of thinning. An easily graded, nini. tH-nnomical and 



uniform pacli. 



practice of thinning annually and uni- tained when the apples are thinned to a 



formly has much to do with preserving distance of eight or nine inches. The 



tree vitality. plan adopted by the most careful or- 



The lessened percentage of wormy chardist is to commence at the top of 



apples at harvest time, due to picking the tree and work down, and if there is 



and destroying the young infested fruit any difference to be made in the dis- 



at the proper time is another good argu- tance to thin the apples, those nearer 



ment for the time and expense spent in the trunk of the tree should be left 



thinning. farther apart on account of there being 



A table of figures prepared by R. S. more shade in this part of the tree. 

 Herrick, a successful orchardist, to Shade is necessary, as it prevents sun- 

 determine the actual value of thinning scald, but it is possible to have too 

 several years ago, and published in the much to allow the fruit to properly 

 Encyclodedia of Practical Horticulture, color. 



shows the following remarkable results In removing the apples to be thinned 



per tree: all those that are wormy and much 



Extra Fancy at Fancy at "C" Grade at Culls at Cost of 



$1.75 per Box $1.50 per Box 85c per Box 75c per Box Thinning 



Thinned .5.34 S9.35 3.07 $4.51 3.2 12.72 1.11 $0.19 $0.64 



Not thinned 2.5 4.38 1 1.50 9 7.fi5 5.08 .89 



Thinned Gain 54.97 Gain .$3.11 Loss $4.93 Loss .?0.70 $0.04 



Total gain per tree, $8.08; total loss per tree, $6.27; net gain per tree $1.81. 



^^^^ile the labor cost per tree will smaller than the average should be 



probably be somewhat higher this year, thinned out as well as those that are 



there should still be left a substantial limb-bruised or have other defects. 



margin of profit in favor of thinning. Also those that are liable to become 



„ f T'l,- defective as thev grow in size should 



HOW to inin, j^g removed. The apples should be left 



In thinning apples in the Northwest, ^q thev do not touch each other and in 



the work should usually commence the such a position that they can have the 



latter part of June or the first of July, jjgst opportunity to attain size and color 



The defective and wormy specimens gn^j to be as free of blemish as possible, 



should first be removed. These should Thinning should be done with a good 



be raked up and destroyed. The thin- pgjj. ^f thinning shears, of which there 



ner should next relieve the bunching ^^^ several types now on the market, 

 conditions, as a rule not leaving more ^ ^.^^^^ pronounced form of thinning 



than one apple on a frmt spur Those ^^^ ^^^ ^,^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ 



on the tips of the branches are also ,. u lu „ • *!. t„i, «.,» 



usuallv removed, as they are not apt to ^re crowding each other is to take out 



develop into first-class fruit. WTien every other tree in the row. This is a 



properlv thinned the apples should be very radical form of thinning, however, 



about seven inches apart, although it is and will not apply except in some of the 



customary to leave some of the smaller older orchards where insufficient dis- 



