Fruit Thinning

Manually Thinning The Fruit

The weather conditions over the winter, spring and summer have been perfect for the fruit trees, producing more fruit than required. The 'June Drop', the trees natural way of shedding excess fruit, has resulted in the loss of some of the fruitlets, but there are still too many. As the trees, especially the youngest, are still carrying a heavy crop, the team have begun to remove some of the smaller fruitlets to allow the remaining crop to reach a decent size and quality. This thinning will also reduce the risk of branches braking that are currently bowing under the immense weight of the heavy crop, as well as allowing the sunlight to reach the remaining fruit to improve ripening. The manual thinning process, using secateurs, will continue over the coming weeks removing the misshaped, blemished and poorly positioned fruit, thinning out the clusters to just one or two fruits.  

One To Two Fruit Remain

The Manually Thinned Fruit And The Natural 'June Drop'