Don't forget pollination. A well pollinated flower will produce a large fruit. A well pollinated blueberry flower for example may have had 2 visits from bumble bees. This will result in a very large one gram blueberry! Smaller blueberries result from a visit by a honey bee or mason bee. These are smaller bees and deposit fewer pollen grains on a flower than bumble bees.
Gkowen,
I read about this practice and it was primarily to win blue ribbons at the county fairs etc. I have wanted to try it also. One method was to use a thin hand saw (1/16th inch) and cut just through the bark and some cut another girdle fairly close to the first. These would stop transfer of nutrients to the roots but would heal for the next year and not require any pruning off of the limb. I also read where this was done to whole younger trees. I can't remember if it interfered with the next years blossoms. Not sure if growth is inhibited on the short term but that would be a possibility. With balsam firs it is common practice when pruning for Christmas trees to use an axe to slash and wound the side of the lower tree. This would result in a growth spurt as the tree reacted. I certainly would not do that to a fruit tree. However pruning is a form of wounding a tree and does cause reactions. Cutting a water sprout completely off stops growth but cutting that water sprout in half will favor more vibrant future growth. Maybe some more experienced orchardists will chime in here.
Bberry
Can’t say scoring or scaring a tree to increase fruit size is something I’d do – but 3 or 4 years ago I had a really poor set on my Wolf River apple tree. What are consistently large apples with a normal crop became massive with only a dozen on a 70 year old well pruned tree!
Amazed, one of mine took one to school for ‘show & tell’ -- while I took another to our Biggest Apple competition at that falls HOS All About Fruit show. For much of the day mine appeared the winner… 
...until another of our members who must be expert at the tactics above arrived with his Stark Jumbo and stole the show 
I was told not to feel bad, because ‘he wins every year’… You looking to compete, Greg? You could thin everything down to a dozen… then bag those to fend off ‘worms.’ Though large fruit is one thing, the breed is likely key. Darn Stark Bro’s…
I have both, Wolf River and Starks Giant (or is it Jumbo?). They are young yet but I have a couple branches that will need to come off soon to open up the center a bit. So if it has to come off, then why not try something different. We will see what happens. The trees need to get bigger.
Idyllwild
simplepress
jafar
Marsha H
Viron
John S
1 Guest(s)