As it is shown in Table 1, only 100 mg l1 GA3 or higher
concentrations significantly reduced the number of fruits
harvested per tree and yield (kg tree1), both in peach and
nectarine trees, and irrespective to the spraying procedure. This
is because the number of fruits left on the shoots by hand
thinning was selected according to commercial practices. In
peach cv. ‘Springlady’, control trees and GA3 treated trees up to
75 mg l1 had 5.0–6.0 fruits per metre of shoot length after
hand thinning on an average, whereas trees treated with
100 mg l1 GA3 had 4.4 fruits per metre. Similarly, in nectarine
cv. ‘Zincal 5’ control and 25 mg l1 GA3 treated trees had 8.8
fruits per metre of shoot length after hand thinning, whereas
trees treated at 50 mg l1 GA3 or higher concentrations had
6.0–7.0 fruits per metre.