Double Decker Farm

Another great post from The Lost Apple Project about the heartless practice I fully support. . Stay tuned for more brutality.

It's that time of year! If you haven't done so already, this week you should go out to your apple trees and thin the apples. I will use this quotation from Stark Bros: "When you thin your apples, break up any fruit clusters so that one choice fruit remains. It's usually wise to leave the fruit from the “king bloom”, or the middle bloom in the cluster of flowers, since it is the best candidate for developing into a large, healthy apple. Leave about 6-8 inches between remaining fruit."
What is the "King bloom"? Take a look at the picture below... the King bloom is apple #1 and is usually in the middle and will have a thicker stem. Thinning is really important if your trees don't self thin very well. You will get noticeably larger fruit by thinning.

It is always so hard to thin the apples, but it helps them grow to size.