Record harvest of coarse pears

7 Oct 2010 Unit: Praktijkonderzoek Plant en Omgeving In mid-September at PPO Fruit in Randwijk a remarkably large amount of coarse pears were harvested in a fruit-thinning trial with the Conference variety. The trial was conducted on the same land where various strategies for pear growth regulation were compared between 2004 and 2007. As a result of good growth control a regular annual output averaging 22 kg per tree was achieved. More than 50 percent of this output consisted of pears in class-size 65 mm and above. On the basis of earlier trials 87 percent of the output is expected to be 65 mm or above. With the best chemical thinning agent only a few fruits on each tree had to be manually thinned. Though, at present, none of the researched agents has yet been approved for thinning pears in the Netherlands, it is clear that good agents do exist for the Conference variety. Further research will shed more light on the relationship between thinning, dosing, weather conditions before and after use, the growth potential of the tree and the developmental stage of the fruits during treatment. The results of this trial are also needed to compile the best possible instructions for use when the agent is approved.

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