How to Thin Apples on a Tree

When left to their own devices, apple trees produce more fruit than necessary. Excess fruit saps energy from the tree leaving the plant vulnerable to disease or preventing the tree from producing apples the following year. A surplus of apples leads to lower-quality, smaller fruit, and apple weight causes branches to sag and break. If you thin apples every year, your tree will stay healthy and mature apples will be larger, tastier and more salable.

Instructions

1. • 1

     Inspect your apple trees six weeks after apple blossoms bloom. The apples should be about the size of the dime.

   • 2

     Select the largest, healthiest-looking apple in a 6 to 8 inch, 18-leaf radius and leave it alone.

   • 3

     Remove the rest of the apples by plucking them off with your hands. Continue the process for the remaining apples until the entire tree is thinned.