On Thursday, I ran the MaluSim model for Winchester.
As I suggested in my last post, the strongly negative carbohydrate balance forecasted for May 20 and 21 were a product of poor cloud cover forecasting. In fact, since May 16 the carbohydrate status has been in the positive range. Chemical thinning applications made from May 17 through the next several days will likely have an moderate to poor response. Now that fruitlets are 15 to 20 mm in diameter, NAA and 6-BA will have minimal thinning efficacy. Growers who need to thin additional fruit from their trees should consider ethephon applications.
Table 1. Fruitlet sizes at the Alson H. Smith, Jr. AREC in Winchester, VA.
| Variety | 12-May | 15-May | 20-May | 22-May |
| Empire | 10.4 | 12.2 | 15.1 | 17.9 |
| Fuji | 7.0 | 9.0 | 12.1 | 14.8 |
| Gala | 8.7 | 11.3 | 13.9 | |
| Goldens | 8.0 | 9.5 | 12.7 | 14.9 |
| Idared | 8.1 | 9.5 | ||
| Pink Lady | 9.2 | 11.0 | 13.6 | 16.6 |
| Red Delicious | 8.0 | 10.1 | 11.4 | |
| York | 7.9 | 10.7 | 13.8 | 16.1 |
As I did for the Central Virginia models, I will run one more season recap model early next week.
Download the full report: