Olin wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Rachel Aitch"

Sent: Friday, November 17, 2006 11:03 AM, Subject: "King Fruit" - why do we
remove it?

I was always taught to thin out fruit during the late spring/early
summer, in order to get fewer but better fruits.
But why do we have to take out the King fruit, the central one? I'm
talking particularly about apples here.
Logically (yes, I'm old enough now to rebel against what I've been
taught!) shouldn't that be the one that stays?
Any theories, anyone?
Rachel Aitch


Apple blossoms occur in groups of five. The first and largest is the king
blossom. We do not remove the king but remove all of the others instead.
The reason is to concentrate the sugars in a single and the largest blossom
so it will produce the largest fruit. If the king is removed and the others
allowed to fruit there will be more, but smaller, apples and it will also be
necesssary to do more thinning.

Olin


That's right. I don't usually remove flowers but when I thin apples, I
leave the king fruit. That's how it's done, as far as I know. The king
fruit is at the center of the cluster and the smaller ones form a circle
around it.

Steve