Effect of fruit removal on entrance into bud dormancy in apples

In order to determine whether low temperatures influenced the entrance into dormancy of apple shoots to a greater extent once the fruit had been harvested, fruit was stripped from mature Granny Smith apple trees growing in a commercial orchard in Elgin, Western Cape at four different times during the growing season. In the fifth treatment natural fruit drop occurred.

There was no treatment x time interaction in either 2011 or 2012 and it can therefore be concluded that the absence of a crop does not influence apple shoots to enter dormancy more easily under conditions of low temperatures