New Technology of Flower and Fruit thinning in Apricot

New Technology of Flower and Fruit thinning in Apricot

Apricot has the characteristics of fast growth, early formation, early fruit, early income and so on. in recent years, the planting scale has expanded year by year, especially in the comprehensive ecological park near the suburbs of the city, apricot has become an indispensable fruit to regulate the supply of fresh fruit. However, most growers blindly pursue yield, or lack of labor, do not carry out flower and fruit thinning management, resulting in small fruit size, poor color, low sugar content, poor quality can not be sold. The new technology of flower and fruit thinning we explored can not only produce high-quality fruit, but also prolong the time of flower and fruit thinning, and solve the problem of insufficient manpower. The introduction is as follows.

1 thinning flower buds

Flower bud thinning can not only reduce the consumption of storage nutrients, but also reduce fruit thinning work. The thinning of flower buds occurs after the flower buds are enlarged and ends at flowering, leaving only the buds on both sides downward or upward, all others are erased, and no buds are retained at the base (Fig. 1, Fig. 2).

Fig. 1 apricot fruiting branches before flower bud thinning

Fig. 2 Apricot fruiting branches after thinning flower buds

2. Flower thinning

Flower thinning can be carried out from the early flowering stage to the falling flowering stage. Keep the flowers on both sides, the rest are all thinned, the middle fruit branch and short fruit branch should be more sparse, the long fruit branch should be less sparse, and the overgrown fruit branch can not be sparse (figure 3, figure 4).

Fig. 3 Apricot fruiting branches before flower thinning

Fig. 4 Apricot fruiting branches after flower thinning

3 thinning young fruit

Thinning young fruit is carried out when the fruit enters the hard core stage, the fruit is stable and can distinguish the size of the fruit. Early fruit thinning and unstable fruit setting will reduce the yield and affect the fruit growth too late. Keep the medium-sized, dark green fruit free from disease and insect pests. Retain the middle part of the fruiting branch with many leaves or the fruit near the front in the middle. The amount of fruit retained is flexibly controlled according to the size of the fruit. Generally, there are 2 to 5 long fruit branches, 1 to 3 middle fruit branches and 1 to short fruit branches (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6).

Fig. 5 Apricot fruiting branches before fruit thinning

Fig. 6 Apricot fruiting branches after fruit thinning