Results from an experiment about pruning of the apple variety ‘GoldRush’

Summary

The scab resistant apple variety ‘GoldRush’ can be grown in regions, where vineyards are common. At the LVWO Weinsberg ‘GoldRush’ is ripening about October 20th. In organic fruit growing this variety must be thinned strongly, because it tends to alternate bearing. The intention of the small experiment in the organi-cally grown orchard Katzental was to reduce by special pruning measurements the time for thinning by hand and to improve the fruit quality. During the years 2001 to 2005 clear effects could be seen on the size of the apples. The time for hand thinning varied from year tot year depending from the setting of blossom clusters, but there was no success in reducing thinning time by pruning alone. There was a positive influence on the quantity of picked apples per hour. The trees grew more balanced, the number and the length of the one-year-old twigs/branch were higher in 2005. There was a middling effect of the severe pruning on the alter-nate bearing. Well-considered pruning is an important component within organic cultivation to produce ap-ple of high quality.