Cherries and Weather Extremes Pt 2

Cherries and Weather Extremes Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. We have entered an unprecedented third-straight La Nina winter, as cherry growers wait to see how things play out for the coming crop.

BJ Thurlby, Northwest Cherry Growers president, says last year’s smaller crop wasn’t as grim as it could have been, thanks to the strong U.S. dollar …

THURLBY … “That’s a concern for us, is assessing some of these markets where their particular, local currency is continuing to weaken and the U.S. dollar seems to be kind of standing strong. So, that takes a little bit of wind out of our sails.”

So far this winter, Thurlby says he’s hearing good things …

THURLBY … “They’re seeing a lot of cherry buds. In fact, they’re saying, I’m seeing a lot of cherry buds, I’m seeing a lot of pear buds, and a lot of apple buds after this short crop. So, that’s very common for trees to have a shorter crop and then come back the next year and actually have more opportunity for fruit.”

But, Thurlby says it’s just that, an opportunity …

THURLBY … “I think probably a month and a half ago, people were a little nervous because it stayed warm quite late in the year. But, for the most part, I think everybody’s feeling like the trees have kind of held their leaves a little bit longer this year, but the temperatures, you know, we really didn’t get that huge drop from 50 degrees down to 20. It just kind of slowly got colder and colder and now, as you know, it’s very cold, chuckle, but it’s given the trees a couple of weeks to kind of buildup hardiness.”

But, Thurlby says our La Nina winter is just one of the many challenges growers will deal with heading into 2023.

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