Kiwifruit: Effects of thinning on fruit size, vegetative growth, and return bloom

The Crop Load Affects Brown Rot Progression in Fruit Orchards: High Fruit Densities Facilitate Fruit Exposure to Spores but Reduce the Infection Rate by Decreasing Fruit Growth and Cuticle Cracking

“…This is not surprising and in accordance with previous findings, not only on peaches, showing that a lower crop load releases fruit competition for resources and induces higher growth rates in the remaining fruits (Burge et al, 1987;DeJong and Grossman, 1995;Berman and DeJong, 1997;Miras-Avalos et al, 2013).…”

Relationship between time of shoot growth, shoot stubbing, and return bloom of kiwifruit vines

“…This lack ofresponse was probably because ofthe low croploods canied on the vines which had been stubbed in November and December of 1988/89. Low crop loads would tend to increase return bloom (Burge et al 1987), and this may have compensated for any reduction in flowering resulting from late-stubbing shoots.…”

“…Furthermore, stubbing many shoots on a vine could greatly reduce the leaf area of a vine during the early stagesof fruit growth, and the results of leaf removal experiments by Buwalda& Smith (1990) imply thatthis may reduce fruit size. Reductions in leaf area effectivelyincrease thecrop loadon a vine (Snelgaret al 1986),and high croploadsareknownto decrease returnbloom (Burge et al 1987). The leaf area on individual shoots New ZealandJournalof Crop and Horticultural Science, 1992,Vol.…”

Determination of the time of flower evocation in kiwifruit vines

“…5). Girdling shoots would be expected to increase the availability of carbohydrate within a shoot (Snelgar & Thorp 1988) and this may have a similar effect to decreasing the crop load on a vine (Burge et al 1987), thereby increasing return bloom. However, Dann et al (1984) have postulated that girdling branches may also result in the accumulation of plant growth regulators above the girdle.…”