Prof.Kent
5 year old buck +
From an article entitled CHEMICAL FRUIT THINNING OF APPLES
C. G. Forshey, Hudson Valley Laboratory, Highland, NY
http://dspace.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/5147/1/FLS-116.pdf
FRUIT NUMBERS, FRUIT SIZE, AND YIELD RELATIONSHIPS
The crop of an apple tree is the product of 2 factors: the number of apples on the tree and the size of those apples. If the number of fruits per tree is compared with yield, a very strong, positive relationship is obvious. In addition, this is a broad, general relationship because different orchards and different years can be combined without altering the relationship (Fig. 2). However, when fruit size and yield are similarly compared, a different relationship is revealed. First of all, the relationship is negative; as fruit size increases, yield decreases. Second, the relationship is less precise or less predictable. Also the relationship tends to be specific for location (Fig. 3). This is an expression of the influence of factors other than crop load on fruit size. If fruit size is compared with fruit numbers, the relationship is again negative (Fig. 1). This is not surprising because one of the objectives of fruit thinning (reducing the number of fruits) is an increase in fruit size. However, it is significant to note that the increase in fruit size is proportionately less than the reduction in fruit numbers. The increase in size does not compensate for the reduction in numbers. Effective thinning always results in some loss in yield, but the increase in value is greater than the loss in volume as long as the thinning is not carried to extremes. While thinning does increase the leaf area available to the persisting fruits, not all of the increase in carbohydrate supply goes to the fruits. A part of it is always diverted to vegetative growth and this inevitably results in some reduction in yield.
C. G. Forshey, Hudson Valley Laboratory, Highland, NY
http://dspace.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/5147/1/FLS-116.pdf
FRUIT NUMBERS, FRUIT SIZE, AND YIELD RELATIONSHIPS
The crop of an apple tree is the product of 2 factors: the number of apples on the tree and the size of those apples. If the number of fruits per tree is compared with yield, a very strong, positive relationship is obvious. In addition, this is a broad, general relationship because different orchards and different years can be combined without altering the relationship (Fig. 2). However, when fruit size and yield are similarly compared, a different relationship is revealed. First of all, the relationship is negative; as fruit size increases, yield decreases. Second, the relationship is less precise or less predictable. Also the relationship tends to be specific for location (Fig. 3). This is an expression of the influence of factors other than crop load on fruit size. If fruit size is compared with fruit numbers, the relationship is again negative (Fig. 1). This is not surprising because one of the objectives of fruit thinning (reducing the number of fruits) is an increase in fruit size. However, it is significant to note that the increase in fruit size is proportionately less than the reduction in fruit numbers. The increase in size does not compensate for the reduction in numbers. Effective thinning always results in some loss in yield, but the increase in value is greater than the loss in volume as long as the thinning is not carried to extremes. While thinning does increase the leaf area available to the persisting fruits, not all of the increase in carbohydrate supply goes to the fruits. A part of it is always diverted to vegetative growth and this inevitably results in some reduction in yield.