Flathead's cherry harvest finishes strong

The Flathead Valley cherry harvest looks to be one of the best in recent years, with even bigger and tastier fruit than usual.

Grower Gary Hoover said he’s heard that most growers in the valley had average to above-average crops this year and some growers reportedly had “great” crops. “The quality was real good all over the valley,” he said.

The later than usual harvest is now in its final stages, Monson Fruit Co. Field Representative Brian Campbell said. The Finley Point warehouse, operated by the Flathead Cherry Growers Association, shut down Friday.

“We got done right before the big rainstorm” that hit much of the Flathead Valley Thursday night, Campbell said. “Luckily we finished up in time.”

With the co-op members delivering all their fruit to the warehouse, the last of the refrigerated semitrailers was scheduled to leave for Selah, Wash., on Friday, Campbell said.

Hoover said he was pleased with his crop, although he said his quantity this year was a bit less than last year. The Hoovers had a roadside fruit stand, and he said the customers seemed to agree that the fruit was high quality.

The late harvest actually helped, Hoover said, because the cherries get a bit bigger and sweeter the later they are picked. He had one customer from Flathead County who bought 60 pounds of cherries. The man visited the orchard and went around sampling cherries from 10 or so lugs, Hoover said. “He told me they were the best cherries he ever ate.”

Some growers throughout the Flathead Valley were still picking Friday and two growers said they won’t be finished picking for several days.

Louise Swanberg on the west shore said she still has 100 or so trees to pick.

“I anticipate having fruit on Labor Day,” Swanberg said. “That will be a first for me.” She sells fruit from The Cherry House, 11 miles south of Kalispell on U.S. 93. It’s open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Swanberg said this year’s harvest at her orchard will be the latest in 50 years.

“Maybe my dad had some later years that I don’t know about because I was away at college,” she said.

Swanberg’s orchard has 1,000 trees, including 680 in production and about 300 “baby” trees.

Marilyn Bowman of Bowman Orchard said Friday they still had plenty of trees to pick fruit from in their several orchards.

Bowman Orchards operates its own warehouse and markets and sells its own fruit from the orchard along Montana 35 every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bowman said they’ll be selling fruit for at least several more days. So far this year demand for the fruit has been good, Bowman said. She’s seen plenty of tourists stop by to purchase cherries.

This year’s crop looks good, Bowman said, but reserved her final comments until the harvest is finished.

Putting the fruit on the market a bit late means growers get a better price, Campbell said. Washington cherries are harvested earlier than Montana cherries and once they are off the market, the local cherries increase in value, he said.

Hoover wrapped up his harvest Thursday, which was 10 days or so later than he finishes in a normal year. He and his pickers spent three days harvesting the 180 trees at Orchard Estates.

Harvest started late, he said, because of several weather conditions. “The cool spring and then rain, and we haven’t had a really hot summer,” Hoover said. Those factors all mean a later harvest.

“Everybody’s late this year,” Swanberg aid. “The rainy, cold June kind of delayed us and we haven’t had any sustained 90-plus days.” Yet the cherries look excellent, she said.

Overall, Campbell said the 2010 harvest was good. “The rain caused some damage to some fruit, but not enough to ruin the crop,” he said.

Hoover also shipped some of the 20 percent of his crop that co-op members are allowed to market themselves out of state to clientele he has been selling to for several years. That segment of the market seems to be growing, Hoover said.

But now, “the ladders are down, the lugs are back at the warehouse, the stand is closed and we’re finished,” Hoover said.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at sridenour@dailyinterlake.com