Hail damage reports on cherries are mixed

A fierce Tuesday afternoon rainstorm, accompanied by hail in some parts of the Flathead Valley, damaged some of the cherry crop, growers report.

The storm swept through the region, striking heavier in some places than others. The National Weather Service reported precipitation totals ranging between .01 and .09 of an inch fell quickly Tuesday across the county.

Cody Herring, owner of Glacier Fresh Orchards and Packing at Yellow Bay, said the storm hit his orchard but didn’t result in any severe damage.

“I’ve heard that some orchards north of me got hit hard, maybe even wiped out,” he said. “I feel for the owners, we’re all in this together,” Herring said.

Grower Louise Swanberg said she got less than a tenth of an inch of rain at her orchard and no hail from Tuesday’s storm.

“Hail frequently misses me,” she said.

Cherry growers, like other agricultural producers, know they are taking risks every year, Swanberg said.

“There are lots of different factors in play,” she said. “And every single year all those factors prevent us from having a great harvest. So why do we keep doing it? I don’t know. I guess we like growing them and we sure like eating them, they taste so dang good.”

The hail essentially missed Bowman Orchards, too. The orchard sits half-way between Woods Bay and Yellow Bay. They reported “about one second of hail” on Tuesday, accompanied by hard rain, but no extensive damage.

Montana State University Extension Agent Pat McGlynn said hail and rain at this point in the growing season isn’t quite as dire a situation as it would be in about two weeks.

Fruit this week can likely survive a storm, she said, “but it’s not OK in two more weeks.”

This year’s harvest appears to be delayed even more than predicted by several cherry growers last week. Herring, Swanberg and the Bowmans say they won’t start picking until Aug. 1.

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