Fruit Bites for April 20th Apple Thinning Tuesday Apr 20th, 2021 BL: Welcome back to another “Fruit Bites” brought to you by Valent U.S.A. And with us again is Valent’s Allison Walston. And this week Allison, sounds like it’s time for early season apple thinning! AW: Apple thinning is important to prevent alternate bearing, meaning heavy crop loads one year followed by a light crop load the next. There are certain windows of opportunity to thin apples and achieve a target number of fruit per tree. Bloom, petal fall and when king fruit get to 8-12 mm. The overall strategy is to take a nibble approach at each timing.