The newly registered 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) increases the scope for late thinning of apples. By Anna Mouton. “ACC became available during the past season for chemical thinning of apples in the 15–20-mm fruitlet-diameter window,” says Werner Truter, Product Manager at…
Fresh Quarterly interviews a deciduous fruit expert. By Wiehann Steyn. Professor Karen Theron has been with the Department of Horticultural Science at Stellenbosch University since 1985. She currently holds the Chair in Applied Preharvest Deciduous Fruit Research. For the past…
Understanding natural and assisted abscission. By Karen Theron. Fruit growers use several chemical thinning compounds to control the number of fruit their trees produce — we discussed these in the preceding article. In this article, we explain how different chemical…
And what are best practices for use. By Karen Theron, Schalk Reynolds, and Schalk van der Merwe. Most fruit trees set far more fruit than they can support. Trees respond naturally by shedding fruitlets. In apples and some pear cultivars,…