Setting the optimum crop load

November 2011 | Australian Fruitgrower article | Future Orchards®

Setting the optimum crop load requires growers to balance the biological capacity of the tree with the fruit size, colour and quality required by the market. The objective is not maximum fruit number, but the crop level that produces the best combination of saleable yield, fruit quality and regular bearing.

Tree size and canopy development provide the starting point for target setting. Young trees need conservative crop loads so that they continue filling their allotted space, while mature blocks can increasingly use previous yield, packout and fruit-size history to refine the target.

The article encourages growers to express crop targets as actual fruit numbers and then monitor whether pruning and thinning have produced those numbers. This makes crop loading measurable and allows the orchard team to compare intended and actual performance at harvest.

Consistent records are important because the optimum target differs by variety, rootstock, site and market. Reviewing crop load alongside size, packout and return bloom allows the target to become more accurate over successive seasons.