2011 Cherry Update Part 2

2011 Cherry Update Part 2. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

The 2011 cherry crop is off to a slow start much the same as last year with cold and wet conditions in many growing areas. The 2010 crop was pushed about 2 weeks later into the year and Gip Redman, with the Oregon Cherry Growers says that it looks like this crop may well be a week to 10 days or more delayed. Cold weather has also been a concern as well for orchardists due to frost damage.

REDMAN: Washington has certainly has had it’s share which started in November. Down in Oregon they didn’t have the extreme temperatures other than in Parkdale and above Hood River they’ve got some damage similar to what’s being reported in areas of Washington which is spur death, wood death, young tree death. Just things that aren’t - well not what you want to hear.

He says those are problems which will plague growers for several years.

REDMAN: But the rest of Oregon has done fairly well. I heard Milton-Freewater got hurt but I don’t know a whole lot about that but that was November again. Frost - so far the wind has blown enough. We’ve had a couple of nights in the Yakima Valley that have been cold and if you were in a wind protected area I’m sure you could have gotten damage if you didn’t protect.

Of course it is way too early to have any idea of what the rest of the cherry season might look like.

REDMAN: I would say right now it’s sitting in a good position to have a really nice crop. The bud count, the flowers are more than they were last year in both states. We’re looking at 3 or 4 cherries on an average as opposed to 2 or 3 last year.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.