Here we are on May 11, with bud stages all over the place. I’m seeing trees near me in upland/inland central Vermont at tight cluster bud stage; hearing reports from Bennington of trees at pink; and have trees at our orchard in full bloom and starting to lose a few petals. This is always a tricky time for management, and growers may need to be ready to apply different treatments to different parts of the farm. Here’s my quick rundown:

Insects: Generally, there are too many flowers out there- both apple blossoms and dandelions on the orchard floor to be spraying without impacting pollinators. In few cases is a pink insecticide spray needed, in my opinion, especially in retail-oriented orchards. However, the drawn-out prebloom period may increase the time that sensitive tissue is out there to be fed on by numerous pests. Keep an eye on traps, and if you haven’t hung any yet, at least get your codling moth traps up to determine your biofix date. Point being: be ready to treat after bloom (and mow those groundcover flowers first), but don’t get knee-jerk. Wait and see, for now.

Diseases: Fire blight risk is really low, as temperatures have been too cool anywhere for bacterial populations to build up. Keep an eye on NEWA if you have later blooming cultivars and the weather starts to warm up. Apple scab, on the other hand, is primed with very high ascospore maturity. Any decent wetting event is likely to cause an infection, so keep covered with a protectant fungicide and use a single-site SDHI, Strobilurin, DMI, or combination material if you have any questions about coverage going into a wetting period. This week is a bit tricky to time the sprays, as there has been and continues to be a low top moderate chance of rain most days this week, but not really enough to know for sure if a spray would be wasted.

Thinning: It’s looking like a heavy bloom year, so aggressive thinning is probably going to be called for. Plan on, at a minimum, a petal fall application, followed up by another at 7-14 mm fruit size. Successful thinning depends on many factors, I’ll highlight them more in light of upcoming weather in a few days. Be sure to adjust materials based on the NEWA Apple Carbohydrate Deficit Model. I’m also including Dr. Duane Greene’s advice from a recent UMASS Healthy Fruit Newsletter here.

“Bloom and Petal Fall Thinning

Duane Greene

Flower development has been erratic and proceeding in fits and spurts. However, it does appear that development in many orchards is approaching or will be at full bloom this week. The bloom and petal fall stages are excellent times to start your chemical thinning.

Bloom and Petal Fall

Bloom is a time when orchardists frequently do not choose to thin. The bloom period has not yet occurred so there is uncertainty about how favorable it will be for bees to fly. Also, the potential for frost still exists. However, it should be noted that the sooner you can start the thinning process, the better chance you have of influencing and encouraging return bloom. There are several options available to use at bloom.

Petal fall is a thinner time of application that most orchardists choose. The pollination period is known and there is a reduced chance of frost. If a bloom thinning spray was not applied a petal fall application of a thinner becomes very important.

With one exception (Carbaryl) the same hormone thinners can be used at either bloom or petal fall. When selecting a thinner(s) it should be emphasized that thinners are not as potent when used at bloom as when they are applied at the traditional 7-14 mm stage. A rough rule-of-thumb is that thinners applied at bloom and petal fall are about 50% less effective at thinning as they are if they were applied at the 7-14 mm stage.

Naphthaleneacetic Acid (NAA)

NAA has been used by growers for over 75 years. There is some comfort in using a compound that has passed the test of time. I routinely suggest application of NAA at 10 to 12 ppm. I have never over-thinned a tree using these rates. Lower rates will be less effective. NAA at 10 to 12 ppm could be applied to a broad spectrum of cultivars.

Naphthaleneacetamide (Amid-Thin)

This is a thinner that has garnered increased interest from growers recently. Amid-Thin is a weaker thinner than NAA and it rarely, if ever, over-thins. It has a reputation for being a reasonably consistent thinner. The label allows application of up to 8 oz/100 gal. I do not recommend using a rate any lower than 8 oz/100 gal. (Ed. note: Amid-Thin W is not currently registered in Rhode Island.)

Ethephon

Ethephon may be used as an early thinner. The recommended rate is 300 ppm or 1 pt/100 gal. Some have applied it at a rate as high as 400 ppm with good results. It may not be as consistent as other thinners but it remains a viable option. Since it produces ethylene it may also be useful to enhance return bloom.

Carbaryl

Historically, this has been the most popular thinner in New England. Unfortunately, it is very toxic to bees so it can not be used until the bees are removed from the orchard at petal fall.* Carbaryl is unusual as a thinner in that its effectiveness is concentration independent. It is routinely used at 1 pt to 1 qt/100 gal. Carbaryl is an excellent choice to combine with either NAA or Amid-Thin at petal fall to enhance thinning activity. I like the addition of carbarly with Amid-Thin to enhance the thinning activity of Amid-Thin.

Petal fall is a somewhat nebulous term. I consider it to be a period of time between the time petals fall from the flowers and when the receptacle starts to grow. Early in this period the receptacle is not growing, or growing very slowly, so there is little carbohydrate demand exerted by the fruit. Consequently, I generally do not pay much attention to the carbohydrate model during this period of time. However, when fruit grow to 5-6 mm then the carbohydrate model plays an important role in making thinning decisions.

Bloom and petal fall thinner applications are an important component in a comprehensive thinning program. This opportunity to help regulate crop load should not be missed. The real danger in bloom and petal fall thinning is not over-thinning but not thinning enough!”

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