ABSTRACT
The goal of sustainable apple cultivation is the production of a regulated crop of apples that provides as high a yield as possible of desired quality while allowing the development of a good and consistent return bloom and cropping in subsequent years. This chapter will examine how apples grow and ripen (basic structure, growth habit and physiology), some of the factors that support or limit growth, why fruit abscise and how growers can manipulate fruit growth and abscission to optimize cropping.
