The main load regulation techniques are intense pruning, thinning of buds, flowers and fruits.
Bud thinning has had good results in reducing the productive load in order to maximize the final result in a cherry orchard according to various studies.
Conditioning the productive potential of a cherry orchard has become increasingly necessary, to the extent that new combinations of varieties/rootstocks have positioned themselves in the sector with the aim of providing a better quality of fruit for export and turning orchards into most competitive players in the cherry market.
A new alternative that is being used in orchards, as another way to regulate the load of fruit trees, is the thinning of flower buds. However, the effectiveness of this thinning will always depend on different factors such as variety, rootstock, orchard health, fruit set level, to name a few.
Information released by the academic Marlene Ayala, which is based on the 1998 publication by Gregory A. Lang “High density orchands and intensive crop regulation. Good Fruit Grower” indicates that the quality of the fruit improves significantly as production is reduced via thinning of flower buds, notably increasing the weight, size of the fruit, firmness and percentage of dry matter, soluble solids, as can be appreciate in table 1.
Likewise, multiple investigations carried out in Chile by the Avium SpA team and other researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of bud thinning in improving the size and final condition of the fruits.
“Not only can it be recognized that bud thinning is an effective tool to regulate early flower load, but also that it is probably the best strategy to improve orchards in weak conditions, considering that by leaving a lower flower load very early, It gives more alternative for the floral bud of the darts to develop in a better way.” said Carlos Tapia, Avium Director.
In any case, it is very important to be able to carry out an exhaustive analysis of the situation of each orchard before deciding to carry out this work and deciding its level of intensity.
Bibliographic references:
– Carlos Tapia-Personal communication.
– Importance of regularizing the fruit load- Agronomy and Forestry UC-Marlenne Ayala-Paula Wedeles.
– Regulation of cherry fruit load: a practice that allows increasing export volumes- Fruiting and diversification-Dolores Raffo-Tadeo Ballivian.
