The effect of intensity and time of hand thinning on the mean fruit weight and productivity was studied on 'Tropical' and 'Aurora-V peaches. The trees were cultivated under the meadow orchard system, 4,167 plants per hectare, with drastic pruning. The experimental plot was located at the Estação Experimental of Jundiaí (23°08'S and 46°55W) of the Instituto Agronômico of Campinas, State of São Paulo, Brazil, with 80 tours per year of temperature below 7°C. The time of hand thinning was 30, 40 and 50 days after antesis (DAA) leaving 30, 60 and 90 fruits per tree. The best result in terms of quantity and quality of the fruits was obtained with the treatment 30 DAA and 60 fruits per tree. In this manner 'Tropical' presented the final mean fruit weight of 60.9g, equivalent to yields of 3.654kg/tree (15.2t/ha); in 'Aurora-1', the mean fruit weight was 72.0g, equivalent to4.320kg/tree(18.0Vha). Tropical', very early-maturing cultvar, showed a better suitability to this procedure, flowering at the 9th and ripening at the 12th month after drastic pruning of the canopy.
peach; Prunuspersica (L) Batsch; meadow orchard; hand thinning intensity and time; Tropical and Aurora-1 cultivara; fruit size; productivity