05/22/07 Fruit Shaping Up

Fruit Shaping Up. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Yes, it's still early but the fruit season is rapidly approaching. I for one can't wait and it looks like it will be a good one even though there have been some cool temperatures and a bit of rain in some areas. Gip Redman with the Oregon Cherry Growers has been keeping an eye on the fruit crop for a good many years. REDMAN: Cherries are going to be big. Right now they're pretty clean, not many doubles. I think that we are looking at a good cherry harvest, very nice quality. Last year's quality will be come a memory hopefully. I'm hearing that the late districts around Wenatchee and up north have had good bloom pollinating weather and had gotten through the frost times in pretty good shape; in better shape so the late cherry field is going to be good. Even though cherries are Redman's prime interest, he also likes to keep up on the rest of the fruit being grown in the northwest. REDMAN: The apple crop is not really going to be any bigger than it was last year. There are people saying it's going to be less than that and it remains to be seen. There'll be adequate supplies but it's not going to be that big year that we're all expecting to hit. I was curious about the bee issue in the northwest since hearing a lot about the lack of bees. REDMAN: We were really worried about it but no  in fact there were beekeepers  called me, a couple of them and said no problem, I got bees. You got anybody who needs bees you know and so everybody I talked to had adequate bees. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.