E4-Grower & Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 17, 2003
‘Overthinning’ Not A Word To Peach Orchardists
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.)
Listen to orchard managers
sometimes. One thing you
leam: you can never take too
many peaches off during thin
ning.
According to Ken Kauff
man, who maintains about 35
acres of peaches in Bird In
Hand, “I would suggest to the
novice grower the word ‘over
thin’ should not be in his vo
cabulary.”
As long as a “3-inch peach
is irresistible to a housewife or
tourist,” he said, “then thin
(the peach trees) hard.”
Kauffman spoke along with
four other growers at a panel
on peach thinning in early
February during the Mid-At
lantic Fruit and Vegetable
Convention at the Hershey
Lodge and Convention Cen
ter.
Peach thinning, according
to David Benner, El Vista Or
chards, Fairfield, is a large ex
pense, “and nobody looks for
Dr. Kathryn Taylor,
University of Georgia,
provided a research up
date at the convention.
We Salute Our Farming Industry
ward to doing it.” Benner
noted the importance of prop
er employee training as they
go and noted that he is willing
to spend money to get proper
thinning.
Proper fruit tree is critical,
according to Doug Zee, Zee
Orchards, who grows his own
label of “Zee Best Orchards”
in New Jersey. Zee, who
farms 500 acres in Gloucester
County, said growers should
always plant “medium to
large” varieties.
“If it’s not going to be a
large peach, don’t plant it,”
Zee told those who attended
the conference. “If it’s only a
medium peach, don’t plant
the thing.”
Zee noted the importance of
“getting fertilizer for the tree”
early on, one of the cheapest
things you can do, he noted.
“Have (nutrients) ready for
the tree when it is blooming.”
Zee also spoke about his ex
perience with ammonium thi
osulfate, at a rate of 3.5 to 4
gallons per acre, as a bloom
thinner. He cautioned growers
to avoid cold, wet weather
when applying the chemical
thinner.
Mark Rice manages
800-900 acres of orchards,
with about SO acres in
peaches. Rice lost about 100
acres to plum pox virus in
2001. What he grows is sold to
Rice Fruit Company for pack
ing.
Rice noted that he begins
thinning the last week of May
and watches carefully to see
what’s on the tree. Early June
is also a good period to thin.
“Guys clap their hands
when they see the thinner
coming out of the bam,”
Peach growers at a panel during the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Con
vention in Hershey included, from left, Doug Zee, Bob Best, Dave Benner, Mark
Rice, Ken Kauffman, and moderator William Tietjen, Rutgers Cooperative Exten
sion. Photos by Andy Andrews, editor
noted Ken Kauffman of
Kauffman’s Fruit Farm. A
mechanical thinner, pur
chased in 1993, knocks off
about 40-50 percent of the
blossoms.
When it comes to hand
thinning, Kauffman noted
that waiting until the June
drop is too late. He asks the
thinning crew for about 10
inches between blossoms.
“Ask for 10 inches of space
between fruit, you’ll get
maybe 8 inches,” Kauffman
noted.
Kauffman said the crew
thins the early varieties twice.
Early and complete thinning
is a must for early varieties.
Zee uses a trunk shaker for
the larger trees. A trunk shak
er costs about 95 cents a tree
in labor costs, and with a spe
cial mechanical thinner, a
crew can do it for about 50
cents per tree.
Bob Best, grower from
Hackettstown, N.J., with 15
acres in orchards, said manag
ers have to go out in the or
chards and “know what’s
going on. You have to know
your varieties, too.”
Rice noted that last summer
the orchard used a cherry
shaker to help thin the trees.
Best used a chemical thin
ner. He went up one night
when the peaches were at 90
percent bloom and put the
material on at a 6-quart rate.
“I am very happy evaluat
ing how it affects each vari
ety,” Best said. “It affects
each variety differently.”
Best outlined several variet
ies. Thinner worked well on
several of them, including ex
cellent results on Harmony, in
big demand at the retail level,
and on PF-5, an early variety.
“It clobbered them,” he said.
“I wouldn’t hesitate to do it
again.”
“The secret is to get as
much off the tree before pit
hardening as you can,” Zee
noted.
“It’s something everybody
ought to at least try,” said
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