Thinning Apple and Asian Pear Trees

Apples before thinning

Apples after thinning

At this time of year you are likely experiencing June Drop. Dont worry! There is nothing wrong. The fruit trees are naturally losing any unpollinated fruit. We have to continue this action by thinning even more fruit from the tree and that is a job I really have a hard time doing. More is better, yes? No! I have learned this the hard way.

Why thin fruit from the trees?

• The more fruit on a spur, the smaller the fruits are at harvest.
• The closer together the fruit are, the less air circulation and the higher likelihood of disease and insect problems like codling moth.
• The heavier the total amount of fruit on a branch, the more likely the branch will become weighted down and break.
• Thinning the fruit encourages the tree to produce fruit every year.

The best method for a home gardener is to pick the fruit off the spur with a twisting snap motion. Pulling them off might break the full spur and you would lose that grouping of fruit. You could also choose to use small clippers.

Look at each cluster and remove all but the largest and healthiest apple. Then visualize the size your apple grows. Any other tiny fruits near it which would interfere with its growth should also be removed. Basically, leave one fruit every 4 6 inches.

Asian Pear before thinning

Asian Pear after thinning

With Asian pears, it is slightly different. It is preferable to keep the middle fruit on a spur. That means, if there are 5 fruits, remove the bottom two and the top two, leaving the middle one.

Now is a good time to do this while the fruits are tiny and the tree has already started the drop. It will have the rest of the season to put energy in to producing fruit of a good size and quality.

As an aside, dont thin your cherries. Enjoy every single last one of them!

Tags: edible gardening, fruit trees, What to do in the garden

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