In general, the only thing that surprises novice arborists is that the fruits on the tree are much smaller than what they are used to eating in the supermarket. “What happened to my tree?!” “My God! What I've done?" Cries of disgruntled arborists are heard. However, small fruits are natural. However, while smaller fruit may be what nature intended, you can get larger fruit without any additional genetic or chemical changes. Only with the help of advanced technology can experts achieve huge proportions with fruits.
Typically, in the early stages of planting fruit trees, veterans perform a task called fruit thinning. The theory behind this process is that trees with poorly visible fruits can efficiently send cells to other fruits. If your tree has hundreds of small fruits that compete for the ingredients needed to grow, you end up with just a bunch of dwarf fruits. To fix this, pick 1/3 of the fruit early on. You will see big fruit this season.
In almost any tree, the success of each fruit depends on the distance to it. In general, there should be no fruit 6-8 inches apart. When thinning fruits, you usually aim for this distance to optimize the number of nutrients each fruit receives. Come closer, and you will see them slip away. This is usually the first mistake a new arborist makes. Planting lots of fruit isn't always good!
Sometimes small fruits arise from conditions beyond the control of the grower. Cold weather can be fatal to the fetus's size during the process of cell division through which all new fruits pass. Cloudy weather early in the season reduces the number of carbohydrates available to the crop. If not all factors keep the fruit tree healthy, sometimes the fruit may fall to the ground before it is ripe. Lack of water or certain nutrients, excessive attack by pests and diseases can also damage fruit growth. If this happens at the beginning of the season, the fruit should be thinned more than usual. Sometimes up to three-quarters of the fruit should be left in so that the rest can be fully satiated.
The best way to learn how to make bigger berries is to experiment. If the tree has been around long enough, you can do little to kill it or stop fruit. Try different dilution techniques or whatever comes to mind to increase the fruit. You can also go to your local kindergarten and ask what to offer. We can provide suggestions based on region and specific trees. Better than I can say.
The best way to find out how to gain larger fruit sizes is to experiment. If your tree has been around for a while, there is almost nothing you can do to cause it to die or stop producing fruit. Just test different thinning techniques or anything you can think of to make the fruits larger. You might even head down to your local nursery and enquire about what they would suggest. They will give you advice based on your region and specific tree, which is better than anything I could tell you. So don’t settle with small fruits. Go out there and find out what exactly you need to do to improve the size.
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