A Detailed Guide to the Timing and Technical Methods of Fruit Thinning in Navel Oranges

Navel orange trees produce a large number of flowers and set a relatively large number of fruit, but the tree cannot supply enough nutrients for too many fruit to grow and develop, so fruit thinning must be carried out in good time. So how should navel oranges be thinned? What is the most suitable time for thinning? Let's find out together.

1. The role of fruit thinning

Fruit thinning can reduce misshapen fruit, diseased and insect-damaged fruit, overly crowded fruit, oversized and undersized fruit, defective fruit and damaged fruit, and increase the proportion of first-grade navel orange fruit. It can reduce the tree's nutrient consumption and effectively supply sufficient nutrients for fruit water uptake, which helps stabilize fruit set and improves the quality of navel orange fruit. It allows the tree to carry an appropriate amount of fruit while also producing a certain number of autumn shoots, and autumn shoots are good fruiting mother branches for the following year, thereby overcoming the alternate bearing (on-year and off-year) tendency of navel oranges.

2. Timing of fruit thinning

Navel orange fruit thinning can be carried out three times a year. The first time is at the end of May, that is, after the second physiological fruit drop, when some overly crowded fruit, diseased and weak fruit, and small fruit are thinned out; the second time is during the second swelling period, when some misshapen fruit is thinned out; the third time is about 15 days before harvest, when some damaged fruit is thinned out to increase the proportion of good fruit and raise its commercial value.

3. Fruit thinning methods

Navel orange fruit thinning is generally done by hand picking after fruit set has stabilized. Manual thinning is divided into two types: whole-tree balanced thinning and partial thinning. Whole-tree balanced thinning means removing excess fruit according to the leaf-to-fruit ratio so that each branch group carries fruit evenly. Partial thinning, on the other hand, follows a roughly suitable leaf-to-fruit ratio by removing all the fruit from some branches or leaving only a small amount of fruit on them, while leaving all the fruit on other branches or thinning only a small amount, so that fruiting alternates among the branches. Thin more heavily when fruit set is heavy or when there are many small fruit and densely clustered fruit; conversely, thin less or not at all. Generally about 10% of the total fruit can be thinned out.

The above is an introduction to the timing and methods of navel orange fruit thinning. We hope it helps you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.