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To save your fruit tree, bravely thin your tree fruit

Overloaded branches can break under the weight

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAY 22, 2023

How not to grow peaches: This tree at Cal Expo last July should have thinned months earlier. The guide: A hand's width between fruit. Kathy Morrison

The pride of fruit tree gardeners in their crop is something to see. After all, they've battled gusty winds, late frosts, a lack of pollinators, weather-borne diseases -- and that's before the fruit ripens, when the birds and squirrels come after it. On top of this, why would they want to thin that crop they're so proud of?

Because an overloaded fruit tree is a stressed tree, and it might break under all that weight.

Last summer, the Sacramento County master gardeners who worked at the State Fair could not get over the predicament of the little peach tree that was just a few feet from their booth. It had never been thinned that year, and was jammed with ripening fruit. It looked uncomfortable at the very least. Fruit that touches while growing like that also makes it easier for diseases or pests to spread through the crop.

On a much bigger tree, that crop could bring down a branch or even split the tree. The full-size fruit trees in the back of The Farm area were just as jammed. (Also disease-ridden, but that's a post for another day.) Fortunately, there are few walkways back in that area, so fairgoers weren't in too much danger from falling branches.

Here's "The Home Orchard," the UCCE master gardeners' guide, spearheaded by the late Chuck Ingels, on the subject:

"A tree's leaves supply energy for growth; if there are not enough leaves to support the number of fruit that set, the fruit will, in effect, compete with each other for carbohydrates and so remain small. ... Although thinning reduces the number of fruit and total yield, it improves the size and quality of fruit."

Most stone fruits except cherries require thinning most years. Fruit can be thinned any time from just after bloom to a few weeks before harvest, "The Home Orchard" notes. The book suggests April to mid-May (ahem, now) as the best time to thin, when fruit are big enough to assess but not so big that you risk breaking branches.

Peaches or nectarines on a healthy tree growing under ideal weather conditions should be thinned to 5 to 7 inches apart (about a hand's width), the book notes. Apricots and hybrids such as apriums are smaller, so 3 to 5 inches apart is recommended, and 4 to 6 inches for plums and pluots. Get rid of one of the "doubles" that develop and retain the largest fruit. Toss rejects into the organic waste bin.

So buck up, fruit growers -- bravely thin those unripe peaches and plums now. Your tree will thank you later.

For more on orchard tree care, visit https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/Fruit_and_nuts/ on the Sacramento County master gardeners' website.

Comments

2 comments have been posted.

😑 Laura Bell (Sacramento County) • Posted May 23, 2023, 6:15 a.m.
Rather than toss those little green peaches, make them into refrigerator pickles. This is the first year I've attempted this and they are still 3 weeks from being ready to test, but I'm happy that there is a use for them other than as compost. The recipes I followed came from the Crafty Cookery website - one sweet, one savory. Note that these are not processed and thus must be stored in the refrigerator, so be sure you can dedicate the space to it before starting. There is not safe tested recipe for processed green peach pickles. At least not yet.
- 😑 Kathy Morrison (Sacramento County) • Posted May 24, 2023, 11:11 a.m.
  Cool idea! I've made other refrigerator pickles. Will have to check out that website.

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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