When to Start Thinning Your Fruit

While it is warming up, it is a thrill to see your trees beginning to display the fruits of your labor. So why voluntarily remove this wonderful fruit that we so desire? Thinning achieves a desired fruit size, enhances flavor and complexity of the fruit, and produces a great bloom for the following season. It also aids in pest control and helps insure annual bearing, which is often not in a fruit tree's nature.


Wild fruit trees naturally produce a crop every other year (biennial bearing). This is generally caused by an “on” year overwhelming the “off” year. The on-year tends to be overly bountiful which negatively effects the following year. This leads to limited return bloom for the next growing season. Thinning the crop within four to six weeks of bloom allows bud development for the next year. Later thinning is useful for fruit sizing.


Thinning will also assist the tree to focus its energy more efficiently. Since seed production can exhaust nutrients and hormonal reserves, removing some of the fruit will help focus the tree's energy on the remaining fruit, creating quality flowering buds for the following season. For younger trees, thinning may help the tree focus energy on growing strong roots. Removing fruits in these young trees leads to a more robust, structural growth.


When hand thinning, leave the largest, best looking fruits per cluster. Use 2 hands to prevent breaking off the entire spur. Grab the branch with one hand and remove the extra fruits with the other hand. You may pinch off along the stem or roll the fruits between thumb and finger. We usually begin thinning when fruit is about the size of a quarter (coin) or when slightly larger than your thumb nail.
Peaches will benefit from some thinning. Plums and quince can be left alone unless you suspect a heavy crop load that will break branches. Apricots, cherries and berries do not require thinning.


Important to note: properly thinned trees will produce as many bushels of fruit as one that is not thinned, fruit size makes up the difference.