After having gained extensive experience in counting fruiting shoots, you will learn to judge crop load by simple visual estimation. Optimum crop load to ensure both nut quality and return bloom is based on the nut size of the cultivar. As the percentage of fruiting shoots increases above the optimum nut load, nut weight, return bloom, kernel percentage, and grade decrease. Shaking trees to achieve the desired level of fruiting shoots is a skill developed with experience. The duration of shaking required to remove nuts is dependent on the equipment used, amount of fruit to be removed, tree size, and tree architecture.
Proper thinning requires good judgment by at least one keen observer on the ground.
As the tractor operator shakes the tree, the observer must watch a predetermined area and evaluate the percentage of fruiting shoots remaining on the tree. Do not be alarmed by the number of fruits that hit the ground. Often, heavily loaded Mohawk trees need more than half of the crop removed to ensure quality nuts at harvest. Trees should be shaken in 2 to 3 second spurts until thinning is complete. This compensates for branch structure that can relay the force of shaking to various parts of the tree canopy.