Temprate Fruits (1+1)

AFTER CARE/CULTURE

Thinning: -

• Fruit set in apricot is rather heavy which results into under sized fruits and also increases the tendency of biennial bearing.
• Fruit thinning improves fruit size, promotes regular bearing, decreases limb breakage due to heavy crop load and maintains the tree vigour
• Fruit thinning should be done within forty days after full bloom i.e. during the last week of April or first week of May, because this is the effective period influencing fruit bud formation.
• Both hand and chemical thinning method are employed.
• Depending upon the crop load, the fruit may be thinned till the fruit are 6-10cm apart. A spur should have not more than two fruits.
• Foliar spray of 25 to 50ppm NAA 20 days after fruit set is best for thinning.

ORCHARD SOIL MANAGEMENT AND WEED MANAGEMENT

• Sod culture plus mulching of basin with dry grass or black polythene is the common orchard floor management practice followed in apricot orchards.
• In apricot orchards atrazine or diuron @ 4.0kg/ha as pre-emergence and gramoxone @ 2kg/L or glyphosate @800ml/ha as post-emergence has been found effective and economical in controlling weeds.
• Mulching of trees basin with 10-15cm thick dry grass also checks the weed growth.
• During the initial 3-4 years of orchards life when the plants are young, intercropping with leguminous crops like pea, bean, soyabean, cowpea, and also tomato and strawberry is recommended as they enrich the soil and also give economic returns.

IRRIGATION

• Though apricot is tolerant to dry atmosphere yet require irrigation water especially during critical periods of fruit growth and development.
• Water requirement varies with the soil, tree age, climatic conditions and irrigation method. The peak water use period is from end of April to mid of June, which coincides with fruit development period.
• Irrigation at 20 per cent depletion of soil moisture from field capacity improves fruit size and yield. Irrigation interval should be 10 days during May and 6-8 days during June.
• In all, eight irrigations in a season are sufficient for apricot in mid hill of Himachal Pradesh..

MATURITY INDICES. HARVESTING AND YIELD

• Change of surface colour, days from full bloom to harvest and fruit T.S.S are considered to be the best indices of maturity.
• For fresh market, the fruits are plucked when surface color turn green to yellow.
• Fully ripe fruits are, however, harvested for freezing, canning and drying.
• In Himachal Pradesh, days from full bloom to harvest and fruit T.S.S. have been standardized for different varieties to judge the optimum time of harvest.
• Since apricot fruits are very perishable, due care is required during harvesting, packing and transportation.
• The fruits should be harvested in the morning hours and direct exposure of fruits to sun are avoided during grading and packing.
• Apricot trees start fruiting at the age of 5 years and give economic yield up to 30-35years. Apricot attains full bearing age at about 8-10 years and yield about 50-80kg fruits per trees.

POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT

• Before packing, the fruits are graded according to the size of the fruit.
• Fruits are packed in the wooden boxes or CFB cartons. Each box is lined inside with newspaper sheets keeping the margins for over hanging the flaps.
• The boxes are initially padded with pine needles at the bottom to avoid brushing of the fruits.
• Wrapping of individual fruits is not done in apricot. Then fruits are arranging in layers and top layer is covered with paper by bringing together over hanging flaps.
• The top of the box is nailed in case of wooden boxes whereas CFB carton are sealed with adhesive tape.

• In order to save wood, small sized CFB cartons can also be used for packing of apricot fruits. These are lighter in weight easy to handle and in packing and harvesting no extra labour and expenditure like wrapping material, nails, padding material etc are required. However, they are slightly more expansive than wooden boxes and need protection from direct rains but fetch better prices because of lesser bruising damage.
• Apricot fruits can be stored at 0oC for 1-2 weeks with 85-95 per cent relative humidity.