Features Fruit Production
New chemical thinning compounds for apples

It’s a few months before bloom, but not too soon to be thinking about your chemical thinning strategies for 2019. There are some new products being researched that will hopefully become available to Canadian apples producers in the next few years.

The purpose of this article is to briefly highlight two new compounds being researched in Canada and provide a brief review of currently registered products. In addition, a summary of environmental and tree factors that can influence the ease of thinning is provided.

The intention of chemical thinning of apples is to:

• Increase fruit size to optimize financial returns
• Ensure adequate return bloom and prevent biennial bearing
• Improve fruit colour, disease and pest control through reduced fruit clustering
• Reduce limb breakage
• Improve harvesting efficiencies

This article was orignially published by the Orchard Network Newsletter. To read the full article, please visit, New Chemical Thinning Compounds for Apples.