To stay in business for the long haul, orchardists must produce exceptional quantities of exceptional fruit. Fortunately, there are many tools available to help growers reach target fruit goals, and increase profitability while decreasing costs, says Tory Schmidt, horticultural associate for the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. Schmidt highlighted the following areas for growers to focus on: Crop load management—Growers should strategically prune to specific bud counts and prune to manage light penetration and interception. Pruning to a bud count is easier to do when orchards have uniform fruiting walls. Bloom thinning—Effective products are available for chemical thinning, including lime […]