Studies on the control of alternate bearing in citrus. V

Abstract

Effect of harvesting date of fruits on the deve-lopment of flowers and shoots in the following year was investigated on the potted Satsuma and Early Satsuma orange trees for several years. The results showed that the earlier the fruits were harvested, the more the flowers developed in the following year, and even when one half of the fruits were picked early, the effect was also evi-dent. Pickings before mid-November increased the number of flowers than the pickings thereafter. The number of shoots sprouting in the next spring was not affected by the date of harvesting fruits, even if fruits were harvested early, and it was decreased in the cases where the number of flowers was increased markedly. No significant differences were found among the length and number of nodes, of newly developed shoots on the trees whose fruits were harvested in the different dates.