06/22/06 Checking on the Cherries

Checking on the Cherries. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Cherry growers will have a chance to see what's new this coming Friday at the 5th Annual Sweet Cherry Field Day. This year's field day will be held at the WSU-Roza Experimental Farm. Program leader Matthew Whiting says everyone is invited. WHITING: Well the program would be open to the public though we certainly cater towards sweet cherry growers whether they've been in the business for 20 years or whether there are just thinking of getting started. The program is designed to provide information for the cherry industry at large. Whiting talks about what to expect at this years field day. WHITING: Well this is our fifth one and this year I decided to change it and have it in the afternoon and follow that up with refreshments and a supper back at the WSU Experiment Station so that we could continue the conversations that inevitably come up during the afternoon field day. Whiting says there will be plenty of good information. WHITING: It's the WSU Roza Experimental Farm. It's where I have about 35 acres of experimental research orchards. So within those they're comprised of almost 40 different varieties and over 20 different rootstocks and we're experimenting with different ways of training the trees and different means of harvest and studies on fruit quality as well. The filed day gets underway tomorrow at 1:30pm at the farm. Whiting suggests you check out WSU's Stone Fruit website for a rough itinerary and map to the farm. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network. http://fruit.prosser.wsu.edu/FieldDay2006.htm