{"id":51,"date":"2013-05-20T00:22:31","date_gmt":"2013-05-20T00:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/?p=51"},"modified":"2013-05-20T00:22:31","modified_gmt":"2013-05-20T00:22:31","slug":"only-a-few-are-chosen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/?p=51","title":{"rendered":"Only a few are chosen…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bloom is almost over.\u00a0 We have a few late apples (Rome Beauty) planted in the low spots that are still blooming, but for the most part, bloom is over and the bees have done their work.\u00a0 We were worried about the number of native bees in the orchard this year, but once again, we see a pretty good “set.”\u00a0 Now we turn our attention to thinning.<\/p>\n

Thinning is the process of selectively removing all but a few of the tiny fruits so that the remaining fruit will achieve good size and color.\u00a0 The earlier we complete the thinning process, the more time that the tree can focus its growth on the remaining fruit, resulting in higher quality.<\/p>\n

\"Apples<\/a>

Apples that need to be thinned.<\/p><\/div>\n

For example, in the picture, taken today in our Gala block, you can see the results of that beautiful bloom.\u00a0\u00a0Each ‘spur’ on the tree usually results in 4-6 blooms.\u00a0 The center bloom is the “king” bloom and will have the largest fruit.\u00a0 With even a 50% pollination rate, there are so many apples on the tree that if left untreated, the fruit would be small, and likely not develop uniform color because it would be shaded by its neighbors touching it.\u00a0 In extreme cases, the growing process could even knock the apples off the tree as neighboring fruit jockeys for space.<\/p>\n

In peaches, we start the thinning process even before the blossoms are pollinated.\u00a0 The process is called blossom thinning and has only recently become mainstream.\u00a0 Basically, the process involves knocking off about half of the blooms before they ever have a chance to develop.\u00a0 Growers have developed some creative ways to blossom thin: from cordless drill-mounted wirlygigs, to tractor mounted whips that knock off blossoms, to the more manual hand-work.\u00a0 No matter which method is used, the timing is critical as the blossoms only last a short while.\u00a0 If the job is not done well, hand thinning will be necessary later in the season, with decreased quality and increased cost.\u00a0 If thinning is not done at all, the grower is almost guaranteed an unsaleable crop.<\/p>\n

In apples, the thinning process is more automated, but nearly an art form.\u00a0 Almost all apples are thinned using sprays that are applied at exactly the right time at exactly the right quantity.\u00a0 The calculus used in the decision process includes a lot of notes as to how those trees have reacted in the past to thinning, and also includes careful consideration of not only the current weather, but the weather forecasted over the next several days.\u00a0 It turns out that more apples will drop if the weather will be cloudy and warm, and fewer will drop if the weather will be sunny and cool.\u00a0 Scientists at Cornell have developed a model to codify these observations, but there is still a lot of room for error.<\/p>\n

All these variables make apple thinning a pretty stressful time around the orchard.\u00a0 This week’s forecast seems to have a lot of uncertainty with a forecasted easterly flow off the ocean that could lead to nearly constant cloudy weather with showers, or perhaps partly sunny skies with warm temperatures.\u00a0 The difference could be significant for thinning.\u00a0 Only time will tell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bloom is almost over.\u00a0 We have a few late apples (Rome Beauty) planted in the low spots that are still blooming, but for the most part, bloom is over and the bees have done their work.\u00a0 We were worried about the number of native bees in the orchard this year, but once again, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57,"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions\/57"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shaworchards.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}