Thin It to Win It

Fruit trees are domesticated trees…

…that have been bred to give us lots of fruit! So much so that they can overproduce causing issues that can result in small, not so tasty fruit and even tree injury. So before your tree’s fruit matures, you gotta thin it to win it!

While it may sound sad to sacrifice some of your cutie little fruities, it is of the utmost importance that you thin the fruit on your trees before they get too large! Not doing so can weigh the branches too much, which often leads to breakage. We do not recommend staking branches in the interest of keeping every fruit.

Your tree has a finite amount of sugars stored to use to make fruit and new leaves to photosynthesize for next year’s crop. Too much fruit will often turn out sour and potentially inedible. We want to help our trees allocate their energy the best way they can and give their sugars to a good amount of fruit instead of distributing them to a massive amount of fruit. What sounds better: 60 small sour fruitlets or 20 large delicious flavor-packed fruitus maximus?

Look at the weight of all those fruits on that branch!

This tree needs to be thinned pronto!

Different trees produce fruits in different ways so a guideline for thinning your fruit will vary depending on your tree species. Since these are general guidelines, you will sometimes need to use your best judgment based on the tree’s age and capacity.

Stone Fruit & Persimmons: Thin 1 fruit every 4”-6” per branch

Apples & Pears: Thin to 1-2 fruit per cluster

Citrus: Thin to 3-4 per bundle

Other considerations:

It is beneficial to thin out almost all the fruit during the first year after planting, so that your new tree can focus on growing strong roots and shoots to support the larger yields to come.

Citrus flowering again and/or with small fruitlets should have as much (over)ripe fruit removed as possible.

Make sure your fruit does not weigh your branch so much that it strains the tree, and definitely make sure that your fruit is never sitting on the ground while attached to the branch. The latter can collect bacteria from the soil and infect your tree.

The best way to thin is with a nice sharp and clean pair of hand pruners. Sometimes gently twisting the fruit will cause it to pop off easily as well.

NEXT STEPS

Too busy to thin your own fruit? This is a very fun activity for kids who are old enough to understand handling the tree with care. Or, if you prefer a professional, contact Fruitstitute for a consultation. If you’re already a client, let us know your tree needs thinning so that your next visit allots the proper time for this care.

Looking to dump all your ripe fruit on someone? Food Forward has got you covered. Register your tree(s) here!

Does it bum you out to think of a bunch of sour little fruities going to waste?

Marmalade - Lovers of marmalade often prefer sour fruit because so much sugar needs to be added to make delicious marmalade, this is especially true for Orange marmalade.

Compost - LA Compost offers many locations all around Los Angeles for scraps drop off and will take your fruit and turn it into healthy humic compost, yum!