How and When to Thin Your Apple Tree

[@CupoTress]

Thank you! Do you have suggestions for prevention and treatment of bores in pit fruit trees?

[@StoneyAcresGardening]

Organically there's not a lot. Garlic planted around the base of the tree is supposed to help repel them. when you have a bore you can run a wire inside the hole and kill the bore. Beyond that I don't know what organic options are out there.

[@cynthiafisher9907]

Good information! A couple of extra tips, I wouldn’t leave the fruit on the ground, it will leave a place for pests to harbor for next year. Also, a horticulturist friend of mine told me to take off all fruit at the end of the branches to 6”. It has something to do with the growth hormones, I think. I got my apples all bagged, but I ran out of bags, so I am going to spray the rest with kaolin clay to see if that will deter the codling moths. I use the maggot barriers bags from Raintree Nursery and I’ve used the same bags for three years. Some end up with holes in them, but most are fine. I close them with twist ties. I tried tiny rubber bands, but they rotted in the sun. It IS a ton of work, especially with big trees, but it’s worth it to me. I picked my first peas today! I like to grow the petite Iona variety from Botanical Interests.

[@homegrownharvest211]

What do you do if for a bramley cooking apple the apples are already almost the size of a dessert apple? Is it too late to thin? Will I be able to cook with these apples or not as they are obviously not ripe yet, I’m in the uk.

[@happyhandicrafts]

Would these suggestions work for a pear tree as well?

[@monicacarter5860]

I was just thinking about the same thing

[@sherihicks1427]

Very helpful. We just this year added a peach, a plum, and 2 apple trees. We have 2 aging apple trees and an old but vigorous pear tree, and wanted some different fruit. Any special care tips for the new trees?

[@robertfaucher3750]

If your old trees are at the end of their lifespan, try rooting cuttings

[@StoneyAcresGardening]

This first year you should remove any fruit that shows up although I doubt there will be any. Will fruit trees the first few years are all about growth and shaping. You need to do some study on pruning and then this winter you will start creating the "shape" you want for each tree.

[@texillini1]

Very interesting and informative. I’ve not heard of this. I’ve always heard that you want to prune your tree so that a bird can fly through. Why? Because if a bird can fly flew then the sun can get to the fruit in order to ripen them. That is a lot of fruit that snippet off. You lost a lot of apples. Do commercial apple growers use your technique? Seems like a lot of production lost. If one has a lot of fruit trees it looks as if it’ll be expensive to buy all of those bags. Very time consuming as well.

[@richardr5878]

Very helpful. My mason bees did exceptional work this year. I’ve already thinned off over 300 apples from my 4 columnar apples and need to do a third round but was waiting for any June drops first.

[@StoneyAcresGardening]

Our 2 trees are just loaded this year! We've already bagged close to 500 apples between the 2 trees! And that is after a HEAVY thinning.