Karen Lewis is testing a mechanical thinner developed at the University of Bonn, Germany, with the help of intern Dennis Hehnen. Apple growers see mechanical bloom thinning as a way to reduce labor-intensive hand thinning of fruit. In the Pacific Northwest, hand thinning of apples tends to coincide with a peak demand for labor to harvest cherries. For the past two years, Karen Lewis, Washington State University Extension educator, has been testing the Darwin prototype 300 mechanical thinning machine from Germany in Washington State orchards. The machine is available commercially, and there are now ten machines in the United States. […]