Getting Ready to Grow

Getting Ready to Grow. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. It appears that the fruit growing season is getting off to an early start with this el Nino driven weather across the northwest. BJ Thurlby with NW Cherries says things are shaping up. THURLBY: So the year so far, January and February have looking back over the last 15 years it's like the 4th or 5th warmest January/February period we have seen here which means it's warmer and from a market perspective for cherries I think that's a good thing because we're working towards getting cherries out for the 4th of July holiday in a timely manner. Last year they missed the 4th of July with a late harvest and that had a big negative impact on cherries since the 4th is one of the largest cherry buying times of the year. Thurlby says that even though this is a good start there are some concerns. THURLBY: From a growers standpoint this probably is a perfect scenario because what's happened is we've had trees, or at least the buds on the trees moving forward a little bit quicker than we normally would see which is increasing the window for needed frost protection. From that standpoint if you are a grower you are nervous and have every reason to be. Over the winter months a lot of pruning has been going on and Thurlby says there is more attention being paid to it. THURLBY: What we're seeing this year in the cherry business is I've seen a definite increase in heaver pruning and after this big crop we had last year I think growers are saying 'Okay I'm going to have to prune because I need to grow 10.5 row cherries for the market.' We've seen it all over the place and from that standpoint, that's another positive. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.