The Electroflor looked promising for mechanically thinning cherries in tests that Karen Lewis, WSU extension specialist, conducted. After success with mechanical thinning of stone fruit, researchers have turned their attention to cherries and are experimenting with several tools to help cherry growers reduce the crop load and increase fruit size. Karen Lewis, ­Washington State University extension specialist, has been running trials. Two years ago, she began trials in cherries with the Fruit-Tec Darwin thinner, which has a single spindle with cords that can be operated horizontally or vertically, and the Bonner thinner, from the University of Bonn in Germany, which […]