THINNING PEACHES 



451 



Actual or Net Thinning Costs. It has been found in ex- 

 perimental work as well as by commercial growers that the 

 actual cost of thinning is almost negligible. The apples must 

 be picked at some time. Thinning saves handling culls at 

 harvest and grading out undersized fruit. The final crop, as 

 already indicated, is 

 often as large as 

 from unthinned 

 trees; it is of better 

 and more uniform 

 size and color and 

 therefore a much 

 more merchantable 

 product. 



5. Thinning 

 Peaches. Thinning 

 the fruit on well- 

 loaded peach trees 

 is a standard or- 

 chard practice. 



Early varieties, 

 as Carman and 

 Greensboro, respond 

 well to thinning 6 

 to 8 inches apart, 

 removing 50 per cent 

 or more of the fruit. 

 Later varieties, nat- 

 urally of larger size, 

 may be thinned to about 4 inches apart, removing from 30 to 

 40 per cent of the crop. Thinning is especially important in 

 dry seasons and on old trees. Even in young trees on strong 

 soils, the fruit should be thinned so that it does not touch, in 

 order to retard development of brown rot. 



The New York Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva 

 found, in experiments covering a 3-year period, that the stage 









1 







(Md. Exp. Sta.) 



Fig. 175. (a) An unthinned peach branch. All 

 the fruit will be small, (b) Thinned 4 inches 

 apart, (c) Thinned 6 inches apart. 



