2015 cherry crop light but sweet
An unusually early cherry harvest this year features quality over quantity, according to local growers.
Independent grower Dan Getman said his season began with blooms in March, giving him a feeling that he was behind before he even started.
“It’s unprecedented,” he said. “Every time I had looked at the trees it felt like a month later than it was. We’ve been racing at full gate.”
Getman is excited about this year’s crop of Flathead cherries.
“My quantity was lower but my quality was much higher this year,” Getman said. “The size was nice and taste is just exquisite.”
Rather than a crop defined only by a stretch of record-breaking heat, Getman noted an early freeze that hit the area last November damaged his trees, leading to fewer cherries this spring.
But with less fruit, cherry trees were able to put more energy into the remaining buds that remained, explained Flathead Lake Cherry Growers Association board member Ken Edgington.
“Maybe Mother Nature did us a little bit of a favor with that freeze,” Edgington said. “What you don’t want is an over saturation of cherries that don’t get enough nutrition before the harvest.”
Edgington said the harvest is about seven to 12 days earlier than last year, and the heat was a factor.
About 75 growers belong to the Flathead Lake Cherry Growers cooperative that ships the chilled cherries from the cooperative’s plant at Finley Point to Monson Fruit Co. in Selah, Wash., for processing.
Washington and Oregon cherry orchards faced the same freeze, coupled with an even warmer spring and summer than the Flathead Valley region. Those states don’t have the cool nights that are normal for the Flathead growers, according to Edgington, which drives harvesters in those regions to pull crops off the trees before the cherries become sunburned.
“We’ll be at less than 2 million pounds this year, but you can’t equate that just to the freeze,” Edgington said. “There are a lot of microclimates all the way down to Finley Point.”
Several local orchards are in a regrowing stage, with many growers replacing older cherry trees with new saplings. Edgington said he expects the younger trees to return to regular output in three or four years.
The light crop has kept cherries in high demand.
The market gap will be hard to fill for growers who have seen lower harvest numbers this year.
Marilyn Bowman of Bowman Orchards south of Woods Bay said crews there have been picking cherries earlier than they ever have before. The cold from last fall coupled with extreme heat left her unsure of when harvest will reach completion.
“Things are abnormal this year,” Bowman said. “It’s hard to say how long we’ll go. But the cherries look good, there’s just going to be less of them this year.”
Some orchards saw the opposite effect, however. Dick Beighle, whose orchard is located on Finley Point, facing Kings Point to the west, said it’s all about location. Rocks in the ground kept the earth warmer during the abrupt cold snap last fall, and the water in the south end of Flathead Lake regulates the temperature differently than the north end in the spring.
“We’ve been so fortunate. Our crop is up about 50 percent from last year,” Beighle said, counting about 13,000 pounds in his harvest. He also finished harvesting on Friday, a two-day effort with the help of pickers from Washington.
Other orchards have been less fortunate. Some produced no crop at all, while a few orchards even lost trees to the November freeze that arrived before the trees went dormant for the winter.
While the commercial harvest should conclude by the end of the month, cherries to be sold locally will be available for public picking through August, Edgington said.
Growers such as Getman don’t fear another freeze or warm year; he’s planting grapes and pears to complement his crops in future years.
“I’m a farmer and farmers adapt,” he said. “My truth is just adapting to the changes as a way to survive.”
Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.