What is thinning and why to do it?
Thinning of fruits is removing extra fruit load from the plant for getting better fruit size and quality. Also, if fruit load above the capacity of plant is allowed, it may cause breaking of branches.
Materials required:
- Secateur
- PP/Gunny bag or Plastic Crate
How to do planning before thinning?
Farmer must have in mind what is the strength of the plant? And what size of fruit does he expect in coming season? For this planning following are some points he should consider:
- One fruit per branch will give fruit weight of more than 600 gms.
- 2 fruits per branch will give fruits weight of 500-600 gms.
- More than 2 fruits per branch will give fruits of 300-500 gms
- Branch that is bearing fruit must be at least of pencil thickness. Branches less than pencil thickness are prone to breakage due to fruit load.
- Fruits closer to stem give fruits of better quality. This is because it put minimum pressure on branch and hence chances of branch cracking / breakage are minimum.
- Fruits having their styler end towards sky are hard to bag. Downward facing are easy to bag and are of better quality. The stalk of fruits facing towards sky may get cracks when this fruit will start gaining weight.
7. There should be 8-10 pair of leaves from fruit selected to branch end. Fruits closer to the stem yield better quality fruits.
8. Only one fruit is allowed if it is coming in pair or three from same stalk.
How to do thinning of VNR-Bihi Fruits in the plant?
- Once planned how many fruits to take in this season, farmer can now remove the undesired fruits. Farmer must keep 10-15% more fruits in plant than target.
- Fruit to be removed should be ber size when removed.
- Removal is done by secateur and cut is made close to the fruit (not close to the stem bearing it).
4. Removed fruits must be put in gunny bags/crates and then taken out of the orchard.
DOs and DONTs:
DOs >Always use sharp secateurs to remove undesired fruits.
DONTs >Do not pull the fruit forcibly as it may break or crack the fruit bearing branch.
DOs > Collect all the removed fruits in a gunny bag/crate and dispose them out of the orchard.
DONTs >Do not keep removed fruits in orchard after thinning.
DOs > Always keep fruits In branches, that are originating at least 2 ft from ground level
DONTs >Do not allow fruits in branches that are below 2 ft height.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Q Why to wait for fruit to become ber size, can we remove extra flowers?
Answer: No, we must wait for flowers to become fruits of ber size when thinned. Sometimes due to heavy wind selected flowers may drop causing full crop loss.
Q What if all fruits are not of ber size when thinning is to be done?
Answer: Thinning of fruits is done when most of the fruits are of ber size. Fruits smaller to this size or flowers should be removed.
