Cherry growers plan trip to Washington orchards

The next step in an effort to study new cherry varieties for the Flathead Valley is a road trip to Washington’s Yakima Valley.

More than a dozen local growers will travel with Montana State University Extension Agent Pat McGlynn to the Washington orchards in early June to study harvesting and production techniques.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for an ongoing Flathead cherry variety trial will pay for the trip.

The cherry variety test got under way in May 2010 when 244 trees were planted in research plots on six orchards around Flathead Lake to determine if there are other cherry varieties that could be grown in the Flathead that would extend the season.

Growers will spend three days, June 2-4, at the Yakima Valley cherry orchards right before picking starts, she said, so they can observe how the cherries hang on those trees and take a look at harvesting techniques.

Some of the new varieties now growing in the local test plots may need new techniques when it comes to harvesting, McGlynn said.

“Some trees grow more horizontally, some more upright,” she said.

Pedestrian orchards that specialize in low-hanging fruit are becoming more popular because it saves time going up and down ladders to pick the cherries, she said. It’s also a much safer method of harvesting.

There’s a lot that goes into not only figuring out which varieties are best suited for this climate but also finding the best techniques for growing bountiful cherry trees.

“Cherry trees are so fussy for pruning,” McGlynn said, noting that pruning methods are wide-ranging, from a high-density trellis configuration to a Spanish bush style. One pruning method features only five main stems on a tree that are allowed to grow to eight feet.

By getting a close-up look at how Yakima Valley growers are stepping up production techniques, Flathead growers can tap into that knowledge and see how new techniques might be applied here, she said. The test trees should mature to full harvest in three to five years.

Varieties included in the trial are the Santina, an early-ripening cherry, and five late ripeners: Regina, Hudson, Attika, Skeena and an unnamed variety dubbed the SR500.

All six varieties look like the Lapins and Lamberts grown in the Flathead but have firmer skin and are slightly larger cherries, McGlynn said.

In May, two more test plots of trees will be planted here.

That will allow for another data set to be collected because it’s unlikely that the first year of growth for the two tests will have identical weather conditions. The same varieties will be planted in the same pattern as trees planted this year, she said, for accurate comparisons.

“It’s been amazing to me the interest [in the cherry trial] from the general public,” McGlynn said. “I think there were a lot of folks that thought the industry was going away.”

Flathead cherries have been a part of the local landscape since 1896, though, she noted.

Last year the cherry harvest yielded 2.75 million pounds, up from 1.2 million pounds in 2009 when market conditions prevented all the cherries grown here from being delivered to the warehouse.

“It’s viable and sustainable,” McGlynn said. “These growers are great stewards of the land. The real reflection of how careful they are is how pristine Flathead Lake still is.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.