Eliminate Fruit and Seed from Plants But not the Flowers

Q. I have some trees and shrubs that produce fruit and seed I don’t want. Can I spray them and eliminate the fruit and seed? What’s the best spray use?

A. Probably the most popular fruit eliminator on the market is Florel. It is synthetic but mimics natural plant hormones.

            I have never used it for eliminating fruit on anything but olives. The label does allow you to use it on many other plants for fruit elimination. Read the label before you buy it.

            The problem with plants not listed on the label is knowing how much to mix in the spray. For this product to work, the flowers must be open and the spray must come in contact with the open flower. 

            Since flowers on trees open over a period of time, flowers on the top, south and west sides open first. Spray the tree twice to get good fruit control. Spray the plant when 20% of the flowers are open first and repeat the spray in one or two weeks when it is 80% of full bloom. It won’t give you 100% control but spraying twice increases how much of the fruit is controlled.

            I can’t tell you how many days to wait for the second spray because it varies with the weather. If temperatures are hot, flowering will finish in two weeks. If the weather is cool, the time of flowering could extend as long as 3 to 4 weeks. Play it by ear.