Peach flowers thinning with the electro’flor equipment in 'Rich Lady' cultivar

Abstract

Peach trees have a heavy bloom charge. A peach branch can often have 20 to 50 flowers. If weather conditions are favorable during bloom time it is necessary to adjust the tree charge by fruit thinning. Although manual thinning is the most effective and selective thinning it is very costly and time consuming. Mechanical thinning equipment for large surfaces has been tested recently. However, considering small size of the orchard plots in the Beira Interior region and the fact that each orchard has different cultivars, it is desirable to find more versatile equipment that allows a rapid adaptation to the difference among cultivars and even among plants of the same cultivar. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the electroflor equipment in flower thinning, peach production and fruit quality of cv. Rich Lady. Total production was 14.5 and 18.5 t/ha for modality with and without thinning, but, at the same time the fruits of little size (56-61) were 0.6 and 2.2 t/ha, respectively.